Tails's Luck: Nightmare
by SkullFox
Summary: Tails's Luck Continuation...Several weeks after Tails beat Nox, something mysterious begins to brew and the two love struck vulpine are faced with a much greater threat than anyone may be willing to face... TailsXOc
1. Intro

**Intro**

The rain fell endlessly over him, the continuing rainfall gave no solace to his broken heart as he held her for the last time. He recalled all the times they'd spent together, the promises he'd made, the things he'd said. The tears burned his face; her once pristine golden fur was tainted by the blood that seemed to drain from all over her body, even if it only came from the wound on her chest. He couldn't believe it had to end like this, he wouldn't believe it. A near primal scream tore from his heart and soul when he realized, what was once labored breathing was now nothing more than her limp body. Tails's eyes became filled with a bitter rage as he looked to the one that had caused this pain, he thought he could be trusted...why would 'he' do such a thing? _Friendship...family...they're only words!!_He shouted to himself as he leaped to his feet and pulled his bloodstained sword from the mud. There was no further reason to hold back, his hopes, his dreams, he himself had died with her...There was only one word tearing into his skull and burning into his mind...

_'REVENGE...'_

* * *

**(Well a lot of people seemed to like the idea of part 2 so...I figured what the hell? Right? I should start work on the real thing but until then this is what I've got. PS: A big thanks to all who reviewed on Tails's Luck...U people kick azz...)**


	2. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1 **

Miles woke with a start almost panicking in a cold sweat until he noticed Kara sleeping peacefully with her arms still tight around him. It had all felt so real, what he'd just experienced in that dream was without a doubt the very mental representation of his deepest fears. He'd had the dream almost every night for the past two weeks, he wasn't surprised to find he'd been crying in his sleep as he wiped away a few tears. He'd gotten pretty good at slipping out of bed without the golden furred angel at his side waking up, sliding a soft pillow into her arms to replace himself as he realized that leaving her alone in the bed simply caused her to wake up anyway. He'd replaced his old hammock with a normal bed some days ago, he had to admit though it was a lot more comfortable than that old fishing net they used to sleep in. He rubbed the sleep from his eyes and checked the clock sitting on the night stand by his side of the bed...9:30, he had planned on going to see Julie-su about the nightmare he kept having, the kind hearted echidna had a gift for deciphering the meaning behind dreams. He kissed Kara on the forehead before getting some clean clothes and walking into the bathroom to take a warm shower.

As the steam filled the room and the kitsune scrubbed himself free of the various smells he'd come to expect from his time with Kara, it wasn't that he didn't mind the smell of her in his fur but, he found that it often distracted him. He looked back on everything they'd gone through since they'd gotten together...It had been several months since Nox had tried to kill him, it still hit him kind of hard to find that he had a brother only to have to kill him, but, he'd do anything to protect Kara. He looked his hands over, there was a time they did nothing but create, now it seemed they only had a capacity to destroy. He played with the platinum band around his left ring finger a bit, he and Kara had been married several weeks after Sonic and Sally...he remembered back to when the only girl he payed any attention to was Cream but, they were kids. Somewhere in the back of his mind he wondered how the bunny was doing, she and Vanilla had moved to a place somewhere far north, something about a private school or something, he was sort of left out on most of the details. After he was nice and comfortable with his cleanliness the lone fox dried himself off and got dressed; he put on a pair of tan cargo jeans and a dark gray sleeveless hoodie...now that he looked himself over in the mirror he realized that at some point in his teenage years that was all he started to wear anymore, he couldn't explaing why he just liked sleeveless shirts, hoodies in particular. Compared to his old self he looked a lot more rough than usual; there was a long scar on his cheek that crossed the corner of his eye and trailed off to the ear that had been partially removed. "I'm always gonna miss that ear." He said to himself before walking out of the bathroom. . He found that Kara was as usual still asleep and headed downstairs, there were some things he wanted to get done before he left for Angel Island to see Julie-su, who he'd called yesterday to inform her and Knuckles that he'd be coming. Tails really liked Julie-su, she was in most ways Knuckles's perfect counterpart; where he was usually hotheaded and rash, she was quite calm and caring...they were a perfect match if the young fox had ever saw one...

Miles almost always woke up before Kara, he put together some things putting on his sleeveless trench which he'd recently had to tailor because of the damages it had suffered several months ago. After the experiences he carried his sword at all times, strapped to his side in a manner that made it hang just behind him, it was impractical and all as he was more used to using guns...but Espio's training was beginning to show through as he often displayed quite an amount of skill with the blade...but like all his toys Miles had recently added his own personal tweaks to the old fashioned weapon which now housed two blades situated side by side about an inch away from each other, that way a single slash from it would be exceedingly difficult to stitch up.

He was surprised when Kara didn't come down when he'd cooked breakfast that usually did wake her up, he really wanted to talk to her before he left, as far away as Angel Island was it was possible he'd be gone all day...he was just happy he'd recently fixed his gear as he'd held the act off for some time. After a short time he looked to his watch...it was going on 10:30 and he really didn't want to be late...

**(000)**

Kara woke up as she could have sworn she heard the front door, she didn't bother getting dressed, a bathrobe seemed good enough at the time. She made it downstairs only to find that Mile's gear was missing, apparently he decided to leave early for Julie-su's place and didn't want to wake her up, Espio had been less than easy on her with the training. She smiled as she saw how the table was set up. A single plate of food was left under a large metal lid, next to which sat a small note held down by a large red rose...

_Miss you already...Miles._

**(000)**

Miles was happy to find that his gear seemed to move with a vastly improved speed due to some modifications he had made to it's internal mechanics. As he headed through the plains valley west of the city he noticed that he could see a blue figure moving at an incredible speed in the distance, apparently Sonic had just gotten back from his morning run, he usually did a lap or two around the continent before rushing back to Sally's side...he'd been a bit extra attentive now that she was several months pregnant...damn near passed out when he was told that she was having twins. Good thing they didn't say triplets or the poor blue hero would have possibly died on the spot. It was thinking about the entire moment that Tails began to wonder to himself, eventually with the way they were going about things Kara would end up the same way...he had a hard time picturing himself as any kind of parent, hell he didn't know where to begin with raising a kit, his parents were both dead before he turned three, Sonic and Sally were the only thing he had that seemed to resemble parents in the least. He could only imagine what Sally would say to him if she heard the way he was thinking at the moment.

"Huh...doubting myself like this she'd probably hit me." He laughed to himself brushing his bang out of his face.

Tails found that he was moving pretty fast and needed to get these thoughts out of his head, to do so he pushed his gear as hard as he could until he reached a small hill launching himself into the air giving him enough time to pull off a double back flip before landing at a speeding start. The rush of Adrenalin was just what he needed, he could only think about getting the rush again. The entire time he sped through the valley preforming one stunt after another forcing whatever he was thinking out of his head. He really did like the time he'd spent on the board racing against Jet and his group, he enjoyed moving as some point to a level near equal to that of his favorite hedgehog, and after he'd spent some time with the team's calmest member Wave, who turned out to be the only person the fox knew that could understand even the slightest amount of his technologicaly advanced speech, though at his field of expertise...Astrological Physics, the poor swallow found herself nearly unarmed. Tails had at some point learned that the Rouges weren't technically bad people. Jet and Sonic he figured didn't get along for the same reason as Knuckles and Storm, they were just too much alike; they were both cocky, impatient, and a little arrogant...where as Storm and Knuckles shared the same hotheaded attitude, but on a plus side Storm was also just as gullible as the red furred guardian. The only thing Miles could find that he didn't care for about Wave was the fact that she felt her input needed to be put in on everything, he liked the fact that she tried to teach him some things about extreme gears but, some of what she told him was some of the only scientific talk he ever had trouble understanding.

Soon enough the island was visible in the distance as a small spec of land hovering above a small jungle land where Knuckles and Julie-su's tribe was known to live. It wasn't much longer before he stopped at the edge of the jungle, and collapsed his board. The modification that allowed this was the one accomplish this feat was the one thing that Wave found to be impressive, she often wondered why she'd never thought of such a thing herself. He strapped the folded board to his back and checked his watch. It had been hours it was nearly 1 o'clock, it was funny, as much fun as he was having he hadn't realize how much time had passed. He flew until his feet were safe on the floating island, and being their place was within sight he decided to walk the rest of the way. As he approached Knuckles and Julie-su's small log cabin he noticed a familiar figure standing in the doorway. Tails knew it wasn't Knuckles, even though at a distance Julie-su could easily be mistaken for her boyfriend until one noticed that her fur was rather a dark pink instead of red, her bangs had always been colored a lighter lavender color; and even though she was a much nicer person that Knuckles was most of the time, at other times she acted more like a guy than he did. She was just as good a fighter as he was too. She was at the moment dressed in a dark red tank top and a pair of blue jeans, it was a normal look for her, she wore small metal braces on only a select few of her dreadlocks, a small chain held a red stone around her neck...

"Miles..." She said hugging the young fox, "...I haven't seen you in months."

Tails let out a squeak of pain, "Su...Su my back!!"

Julie-su pulled away, "Sorry..." She said as Tails caught his breath, "...I've had my whole life to get used to being a super strong echidna and I still can't control my own strength."

"That's okay..." Tails replied rubbing his back, "...I just wish there was a way I could be as strong as you or Knux without screwing with my DNA."

Julie-su smiled as she led Tails inside, "You know that made me throw out one of my favorite shirts."

"Look Su...you know I'd never have openly used that on you..."

"I'm well aware of that..." Julie-su said sitting down, "...now lets hear about this dream, I take it by your urgency that it has something to do with Kara..."

Julie-su paid close attention to Miles as he explained the dream, only stopping him to ask a short question or two until she'd received all she needed to know...

"When did the nightmares begin?"

Tails thought to himself, "Two, maybe three weeks ago...dose it mean anything?"

Julie-su lost herself in thought for a moment, "It's...hard to say Miles, reading into dreams is like looking into the future, you can't be sure it's going to happen until it dose...but I don't like it. Precognition isn't something you should screw around with, and you're already technopathic. I did read that study by Dr. Ferral that you gave me...Para..."

"The truth about Para-psychic Phenomena and the true secrets of the mind..." Tails helped.

"Right that..." Julie-su said, "...the book did say that for some reason one psychic ability usually goes with another, you could be what the book called a Precog..."

"Su...I gotta know, if something is gonna happen to Kara I gotta know what it is so I can stop it."

Julie-su sighed and put her hand on top of Miles's, "Miles...listen to yourself. If this is the future you aren't going to stop it...not unless you can make time stand still. A few magic users that I've met have been able to do so but, only for a few brief moments. I'm not claiming that the future is set, this could just be one of those dreams that sticks in your mind...but, if The Cycle says it's her time it's going to take her like it or not..."

"If this is all true what am I gonna do? I'm not sure I could wake up in the morning if she isn't there anymore."

His pink furred friend sighed and smiled, "Miles...I'm happy that you've found someone that important to you, but, you can't go through your life looking at the future or you'll miss what it is you already have."

"I guess I know what you mean..." Miles said looking at his feet, "...but is there anything I could do?"

"I don't know...but, several of our friends have died before and that didn't stop them from coming back did it? I found that the only thing you can really do in these situations is to have faith."

The confused vulpine went silent as he sorted through what she'd told him, the place remained silent for quite some time in which Julie-su managed to bring them both a cup of tea that the echidna were famous for...

"Say Julie..." This let her know he was deep in though, the young fox only called her Julie when he was very serious, "...Kara, she's been doing a lot of talking...You know, about family..."

"You mean about yours?"

"No...I mean about starting one."

Julie-su turned a bit red, she was surprised he'd come to her with this, "Um...that's a...um touchy subject."

Tails looked into his tea cup, "You're right...forget it."

"No no...I'm honored that you came to me with such a serious matter..." She said, "...but let me guess you aren't so sure about the matter?"

"Perceptive as aways Su..." The golden furred fox replied.

"Well this isn't a new development..." Su informed him, "...I think it's pretty much every girl's dream to settle down and start a family especially with the one she loves. Even tomboys like Sally or myself, at one point or another that's all we can think about."

Tails thought again for a moment, "Yeah but, what if we go through with it and I find out that I'm no good at being a father?"

"Miles...if you're half as good a parent as you are a person, then you've got nothing to worry about..." Julie-su reassured him, "You'll make a great father...as well as I am sure that Kara will turn out to be a fierce and protective mother." She said, "Just promise me that you won't make the same mistake my father did, he completely ignored my entire life."

After some time of talking on the subject Su and Tails headed out the door where the pink furred echidna hugged him goodbye, "You'd better come visit us more often...I know that knucklehead of mine doesn't like to say it out in the open but, he confides in my all the time and he misses you all. You know he doesn't get away from the island very often...and he isn't the only one I miss you all too."

"I'll make sure to tell everyone that...and tell Chipmunk-face to watch out when he's on his gear."

Julie-su laughed, she'd forgotten all about that nickname, "I'll do that...bye Miles...and keep your chin up okay? Everything always turns out in the end you'll see."

"Thanks Su..." Tails said looking to the setting sun which painted the horizon orange, "...I'll remember that, but, right now I think I just want to get home to Kara..." He said unfolding his gear and dropping it to the grassy ground, "...BYE SU!!" He yelled out as he sped off.

Tails was gone from sight before Knuckles suddenly rushed up to Julie-su's side planting a fast kiss on her cheek, "Was that Tails?"

"Yeah It was..." Su replied turning and kissing the crimson guardian on the lips.

Knuckles looked towards the direction Tails had left in, "The dream?"

"It doesn't look good I'm afraid...it could be him Knuckles..."

The red one sighed as he draped a powerful arm over Su's shoulders, "I had my suspicions...but I hope you're wrong."

"So do I...not for our sakes but for his." Julie-su replied, "His state of mind is bad enough as it is...something like loosing Kara could have dire effects on him."

"That's not the worst part..." Knuckles said turning toward the ruins of Echidnopolis, "...the emeralds didn't react to me today. It's starting and I think Miles may be right at the center of it without even being aware of it."

"You mean the 'Chaos Trigger'? I thought it was only a legend." Julie-su said with a hint of fear in her voice.

"I really wish we were that lucky..." The red guardian replied, "...come with me there's something you need to see."

**(000)**

Tails made his way home, it was raining before he got there. His fur smelled as horrible as wet fu often did. He noticed that it war still pretty late. The sun had set hours ago and he doubted Kara was still awake, fortunately he had once again underestimated the vixen's resolve. He found her sitting at the kitchen table clearly deep in thought. She didn't even seem to notice when Miles took a seat across from her...he studied her delicate features as he sat, there were slight bruises here and there, telltale signs of her training with Espio, and she seemed to be lost on some sort of subject with herself...

Tails couldn't wait for her to wake from her thoughts, "Something wrong?" He asked startling Kara out of her thoughts.

"Oh...Miles you scared me..."

"Sorry...but still what's wrong?" He asked again...

"I-it's nothing..." She replied looking at the table.

"Kara..." Tails softly called getting her to look into his eyes, "...you're a horrible liar, but...If it's really not that important..." He said standing and walking over to her.

Kara giggled as Tails lifted her into his arms bridal style, "What are you doing?"

Tails simply looked into her eyes and smiled, "Oh...Then no...it wasn't very important at all."

**(!!LEMON ALERT!!)**

**(I figured I should write one of these at some point in some story or other, but, bare in mind this is the first time I've ever written one, so be nice...)**

She kissed him several times before he made it to the door of their bedroom..._If these are our last days I'm gonna make 'em count for everything their worth..._He silently thought to himself as he shut the door behind them. They became locked into a deep, passionate embrace as Tails walked toward the bed. All of her worldly problems seemed to melt away in his arms, nothing ever seemed to matter to her when they were together. Their embrace carried on for a long while before they broke away from one another; Kara smiled as she lay down pulling Miles down with her. She was pleasantly surprised as Miles began robbing her of her clothes, she was usually the one to initiate these moments, but, this time her golden furred lover seemed to be in absolute control of what they were doing. Miles examined Kara as she lay there wearing only her bare fur..._How did I ever get this lucky?_...He asked himself as he pulled her into anther heated kiss. They had been together for some time and Miles was well aware of what he should do...

A deep sigh of passion leaped from Kara's lips as Miles's tongue began to trail it's way over her breasts, paying extra attention to her erect nipples, Kara had always liked the attention he paid to her breasts. A shiver crawled up her spine as he moved lower and lower, until her inner thighs were given the same attention her breasts had received. In these situations Miles only seemed to care about Kara's enjoyment, fully fulfilling her desires before his own. After he felt she was properly warmed up Miles pushed the head of his member past her walls forcing a giggling moan of pleasure from the vixen, he began kissing her neck as he slowly pushed his way inside her, then after a brief pause pulling out then pushing himself back in increasing his tempo, which was met by Kara's moans which grew louder and louder until her cries of passion were their loudest, her passionate cries only served to push Tails on further. As his tempo pushed on beads of sweat formed on both of their fur, there were tears in Kara's eyes, it still hurt but, the pleasure far outweighed anything else. As Miles pushed on Kara let out a low shriek as she pulled her lover against her as her walls tightened around him seemingly trying to force his seed out of him. As Kara recovered she rolled Miles onto his back , allowing him to slide back into her as she sat across his waist. She sat up a bit sliding up his shaft then allowing herself to drop back into her original position, as her tempo began to pick up she took Miles hands and cupped them onto her breasts which he began to lightly massage causing her moans to grow once again as she continued building her rhythm until after an unknown lot of time she shrieked a bit louder than last time, this time issuing Miles to release his seed into her as she fell against his chest. They were both breathing heavily as Miles wrapped her in his arms and pulled the blankets over them relishing the love he had for the vixen that lay on top of him. His last thoughts as he drifted to sleep were as always of her.


	3. Chapter 2

**AN: I am so F'n sorry this took so long...but I've just been working on other stories for the most part, it's a short chapter two but, I just don't want anyone to think that I gave up on this fic...Like I assured you before IT WILL BE FINISHED!! Thanks for the support and enjoy...**

* * *

**Chapter2**

Miles was jolted from his sleep, even a night with Kara wasn't enough to make the nightmares go away. He wiped the chilling sweat from his forehead, and began to panic when he didn't find Kara there...the dreams were beginning to make him become paranoid. He let out a sigh of relief as he heard the shower from the nearby bathroom kick on, he slapped his paws onto the sides of his head and fell back onto his pillow..._The hell am I going to do?_ He asked himself only receiving nothing in reply but the echo of his own words. He couldn't stand it...just the thought of waking up without her there made him physically ill. After fighting back the urge to trow up, Miles made his way into the bathroom where behind the shower curtain he could see the outline of what was in his mind at least the most stunning silhouette of a creature he'd ever seen washing her hair. He didn't make a sound as he walked across the cold linoleum floor. She knew it was him and didn't say a word as he pulled into the shower behind her; she moved her head to one side as he began to kiss the side of her neck, until his paws pulled her close to him by the waist, but as his paws began to massage her breasts she stopped him...

"None of that Miles...I have to be somewhere today." Kara giggled as she pulled his paws away.

Respectful of her wishes Tails simply began to help her was herself, "Really where you going?"

"Gwen and I are throwing a baby shower for Sally...and unfortunately it's girls only..."

Tails chuckled, "You mean like that 'girls only' bachelorette party?"

Kara turned around to face him, "I've told you before that the stripper was Sally and Gwen's sick idea of a practical joke. I told them no strippers."

"I know I believe you..." Miles said ruffling her soaked hair, "You're just so damn cute when you're angry."

Kara leaned in and kissed him, "You're the dumbest smart person ever."

"Well you're the most beautiful thing on two incredible legs."

Kara's face turned a beet red, as she leaned in and kissed him again, "Well...despite the fact that I wish I could stay in the shower with you I have to go or Gwen's gonna be pissed at me again."

Kara stepped out of the shower to get dressed while Tails stayed behind to clean up himself, he didn't know what he was going to do, he'd based his entire day around Kara and had nothing else to spend his time on. He sighed rather deeply as he walked out of the shower and after drying off headed into their room where he got dressed; nothing too fancy, just a pair of blue sweatpants and a white sleeveless tee. Downstairs he found a note on the kitchen table that was written in Kara's hand..._Miss you already..._it was a bit cheesy he had to admit but it was something that they said relatively often before leaving one another for a prolonged period of time. He chuckled a bit to himself as he phrase hit him, how stupid he must have sounded the first time he'd said that...he still didn't regret it however because for the most part it was true, she wasn't gone for ten minutes yet and he already felt lonely. HE sighed and headed to his basement sanctuary, his lab was now covered in photos of the two of them together. Where he weapons all hung Kara's pistol sat on a small set of pegs. Miles frowned a bit after looking at the large revolver, he tried to encourage her to keep it with her but, he was sure with Espio's martial arts training she wouldn't have much in the way of trouble by herself...

The lonely golden furred fox eventually found himself in the process of one experiment or another, most of his experiments in the past few months, even years had to do with the Chaos Emeralds that Knuckles had left in his care. It was as he sat there working with the emeralds he heard something upstairs. He'd been working for hours but, Kara should still have been gone, a bit cautious Miles took down Dusk and Dawn, his old pistols and headed upstairs. As he entered the living room, which had recently been remodeled, he heard the sound again, a knocking sound from further upstairs. He headed up the stairs to his and Kara's bedroom to find the door slightly open, he pushed the door open a bit more only to see a figure dressed in all black rummaging through his things, whoever it was obviously thought he had left with Kara. Whoever this was they were far too into what they were doing to notice the fox that no had two powerful pistols pointed at their head that was until Tails clicked back the hammer to his weapons...

The person froze, "You got five seconds to live unless you can give me a good reason I shouldn't shoot you."

The thief or, ninja, for all the good he could tell, didn't reply...instead the bizarrely clad animal spun around somehow managing to kick both guns from the fox's hands. There under the animal's mask he could make out two light green eyes and what appeared to be silverish white fur. The animal leaped toward Miles throwing a powerful punch; at the last moment however Miles ducked to his left while dropping to one knee and sweeping his tails across the animal's legs, and as the thief fell Tails followed through with the assault finishing his spin while driving his knee into the still falling animal's side, who slid across the wooden floor ending under a night stand. His would be attacker let out a loud grunt of pain, he had noticed right away that the animal was female as she had a rather pleasant form, but something seemed a bit familiar about her voice. Instead of standing she rolled toward the fox with amazing speed, and as she jumped in front of him she drove her knee into the fox's chin followed by a powerful kick to his ribs that sent him into and though his bedroom door; it had hurt, though compared to other injuries he'd received recently it was only minor. Miles quickly rushed upstairs where he saw the black garbed female with two familiar looking emeralds in her fists before she leaped out his bedroom window. For an instant he thought about chasing her but, seeing as the real emeralds were always kept in his lab he saw no point...he always kept fakes just to keep any thieves from finding the real ones. Miles sighed...it had been a close call, had Kara still been there his nightmare could have very well become reality. Now this was starting all over again, no sooner did he defeat his brother before people come after the emeralds again; between this and the pain in his chest now he wasn't having the best of days.

"I guess I better fix that door." Miles sighed

Before long he had fixed the door and headed back downstairs to his lab, he tended to use his technopathy much more often now, hoping that his constant use of it would help it develop. The lab had several inventions that he used his ability to make; one was a very advanced X-gear that he was a bit afraid to ride because it's speed could get out of control, and a strange device that looked like a microwave, this was actually one of the smallest power generators he'd ever made though he hadn't yet found a use for it. His day seemed to be much less entertaining without Kara around...since they'd gotten married he had spent all of his time with her so it was natural. He made sure that the upstairs was clean from his scuffle with the intruder. He eventually found himself in the front yard training against a large wooden dummy that Espio had set up there for Kara's training he didn't pause his training for anything while his paws and feet sent splinters into the air from their repeating massive impact., when he heard a set of footsteps approaching him he hoped that it was Espio but no, instead he was greeted by the silver furred face of his friend Lynn...

"Hey Miles how's it going?" The wolf asked.

Tails stopped pounding on the dummy and wiped the sweat from the golden fur of his brow, "Wow...this is the first time I've seen you away from Myra for more than a few minutes..."

"True...no different then you an Kara though..."

Tails thought for a moment, "Hmmm...touch e. So what're you doing way out here anyhow?"

Lynn smiled smugly, "Here to say good bye...people are starting to catch wind that I'm here...Maybe I'll head off toward Albion for a while, or visit with Archimedes for a while...he left the colony you know?"

"Yeah I know...What about Myra though?" Tails asked sitting on a nearby lawn chair.

Lynn sighed heavily, "I already told her...she understands."

"Good...I guess we'll all be seeing you around then huh?"

Lynn stood up and turned toward the ocean, "Yeah...and tell that old reptile that I'll see him later...when I can kick his ass myself."

"Still can't get over the fact that you can't surpass him can you?"

"Meh...I'll get to it someday." Lynn said walking off, "Hopefully I'll see you again Miles."

Miles said good bye,he had no idea when he'd see Lynn again, the poor wolf was cursed to be on the run for as long as Miles could remember. There were many people that would do anything to possess the power that Lynn had...he was certain that Lynn would be fine though, he'd survived all these years running and hiding. Maybe someday there would come a point when the wolf would no longer need to run or hide from anyone...but, until then it was his only future. As the day went through, Tails realized how much he'd come to depend of Kara to pass time. Nothing seemed to pass the boredom, his practice, his work, nothing...it seemed like the longer he was away from her the more that damned nightmare worked it's way back into his mind. The only thing that seemed to take the thoughts off his mind was his practicing...the dream filled him with anger, and anger was best used on a training dummy. Another hour or so passed as the vulpine ravaged the dummy Espio had set up for Kara's training...

"Miles is something the matter?" A familiar voice asked startling the fox into turning about.

"You need to break that bad habit Espio..." Tails said taking a seat while wiping the sweat from his face.

"I apologize..." Espio said making his way to the wooden dummy, "It was the dream again wasn't it? Julie-su explained everything you two talked about."

"Yeah it was the dream again."

"Miles this is why it is not healthy to tamper with time or fate...Look at what you're doing to yourself; you train all day, you've been loosing sleep, and Kara tells me that you appetite is nothing like it used to be."

"I just can't concentrate anymore...whenever I start to relax those images come back, and I loose focus again."

Espio thought to himself for a moment, "Alright then...there is a place I'd like to take you in the morning. I'm sure it will help you relax very well."

"Where to?" Tails asked.

"Darderick Island...one of Dulcy's old friends lives there. If anyone can make these thoughts go away it's a dragon that can do it."

"Alright...I'll tell Kara as soon as she gets home. Meet me in the usual place on the hill, in the morning."

Espio vanished from sight as he made his way down the hill that Tail's house sat on, and too the golden furred fox's great joy as the chameleon disappeared past the horizon toward the city, he could see a familiar vixen approaching him. She was quick to rush up and hug the two tailed fox...

"How was your day Miles?" She asked as they walked inside.

"Horrible...you weren't here all day.." He replied shutting the door behind them.

* * *

**AN: The next chapter may take a while since I've been working so much on Chains of Fate and Footsteps in the Darkness, but I will try to have chapter 3 out as soon as I possibly can. Once again I am very very very sorry that this has taken so long and I hope none of you have given up on me...Thanks again...**

The footsteps in the darkness - SkullFox


	4. Chapter 3

**Chapter III**

Tails woke earlier than usual, it seemed like the only thing that allowed him to get any sleep anymore was the golden furred vixen cuddled against him under the warm blankets. When he was younger, Tails cringed at the thought of sleeping in the same bed as a female, but now he found it impossible to sleep without having her there with him. The images, or nightmares, whatever they were, kept him awake for the majority of the night, his only comfort was knowing that when he woke Kara was still laying beside him. By now the young vulpine had become an expert on getting out of bed without waking his golden furred lover...though he admitted that it had also become much harder to get anything past the gorgeous young animal too. She was rather content in being able to read Tails like an opened book. Then again Kara was often worried about him and his constant nightmares as well.

Tails kissed Kara's forehead lightly before crawling out of bed and stumbling about a bit looking for his boxers, which he was certain had gotten away from him, due to Kara's normal methods when it came to their more intimate nights together. Tails did notice that recently the vixen had been a bit more sexually aggressive then normal but, he'd always liked that about Kata and passed it off as a good thing. After finally finding his shorts Tails headed out of the room to take a shower where they falling water wouldn't wake Kara, taking a pair of loose fitting blue jeans and his usual sleeveless hoodie with, as well as his favorite sneakers with him. He went over his things after his shower, making certain he had everything ready, he placed the slice of toast from his paw into his moth to hold it while he picked up his X-gear. As he finished his very light breakfast, he picked up his old friends that lay on the table...a pair of square bodied pistols named Dusk and Dawn, which he holstered before going just about anywhere outside of town. He of course left a small note to Kara explaining that he'd be gone for most of the day. As soon as he was outside he hopped onto his gear, and sped off at the small vehicle's erratic speeds. The sun glasses he wore shielded his eyes from the biting wind as well as the bright sun that peaked over the horizon. As it had happened before months ago, the purple skinned chameleon was waiting, sitting in the branches of the old cherry tree on the hill outside of town. Tails didn't immediately say anything rather he stood under the branches that supported his old friend while he leaned against the trunk of the tree...

"It really is a beautiful sight isn't it?" The old chameleon asked, "No matter what happens...or how much time passes, the sun will always rise the same as the day before. Some things refuse to change regardless of effort or time...try to remember that Miles."

"Hmm...I don't see your point. Even the sun eventually dies..."

Espio sighed deeply, "You truly have lost yourself, Miles. All you speak of these days is death, and suffering...if you cannot see the peace in what you already have, you'll never be able to accept that peace when it is right in front of you. Kara loves you and wants to be with you ever moment she has in her life. Shouldn't that be enough? There are after all people that will never know the kind of love the two of you share. There are people on Mobius, Miles...that would give anything to be in you position..." Espio said jumping from his perch, "I know what it's like to loose someone that important to you...and I will admit that it never stops hurting, but, I spent the last days that I could have spent with her trying to stop it from happening...she died without me being there."

Tails didn't say a word, now his only thoughts were of Kara dying without him being there to comfort her...

"I...I'd take her place..." He half whispered, "In a heartbeat...but, she isn't going to die. The world or anyone else isn't taking her from me, not without a fight." The young fox said readying his gear, "And I refuse to let her die...no matter what happens. You once told me that there is nothing that is impossible...that means stopping this from happening is also not impossible...and if that is true, then I'll do whatever it takes to stop it."

Espio sighed lightly, "I see...Miles, I hope for your sake that you are right. I hope these visions are no more than stress on your young mind, lets go...Kara will not like waiting too long." Espio readied his own gear, "Well then, lets hurry. Valia doesn't like to wait either...she's expecting us."

The two quickly sped off, tearing over the land until they hit the water's edge. Their gears however, sped onto the surface of the water spraying large jets of water up behind them clearly showing their path by a cascade of water that was sent into the air by the force of their speed. Darderick Island was a short distance from the main land...though still only about an hours travel Tails's mind however was elsewhere wrapped up in his nightmares, it seemed like they haunted him whether he was sleeping or not anymore...he'd come to dread the act of closing his eyes, even for a moment. It was horrible, the dreams were even attacking him while he was wide awake, he was so distracted that, where he was normally quite nimble on his gear he nearly lost control. Luckily the trip didn't actually take that long, it was a ways off of the short, but, gears rode air currents, making a trip over the ocean take little time at all. The young vulpine wasn't so certain about leaving his wife alone, but, if anyone could tell him how to stop such a thing it was definitely a dragon.

The island was hotter than Tails would have cared for, it was sweltering, and thought such a climate had no effect on Espio, Tails felt more than a draining effect from the intense heat, the young fox only imagined that this environment was ideal for the ancient animal that lived there. Without words the golden furred vulpine followed Espio through the woods, hoping that this Valia person that Espio spoke of. The old chameleon always seemed to know what to do and when, Tails had always respected the old animal, and was happy to have him for a friend.

Their trail seemed to go on forever, Tails wondered if this animal, this dragon Espio spoke of even lived here...the last he'd heard most of the dragons that were de-roboticized all disappeared after being returned to normal. Why would this one be any different? He passed off the thought as Espio led him off through the forested areas of the island, eventually coming to a large cave dug into the side of a mountain, where Espio stopped...

"You're on your own from here Miles." He said, "I can't go in there...too cold."

Tails shrugged his shoulders before entering the large cave, the frigid air instantly sent a chill down his spine that made the fur on his tail flare our as if trying to push the cold air away. He was a bit hesitant at first but, he simply exhaled sharply before hiking his hoodie's hood over his head and heading into the cavern. Despite the frigid chill in the air, Tails felt as thought this place would in no way at all bring harm to him. It was just the way he felt when he was younger, and hung out with Dulcy, he figured that it must have had something to do with dragons as a whole but, whatever it was he felt, he passed it aside as he walked further into the darkness...

"Hello Miles..." A slightly alluring voice carried through the empty halls, "I've been expecting you for some time now. You're late."

Tails examined the area as he moved down the halls, "You're Dulcy's friend aren't you....Valia?"

"Yes...I am..." The voice replied, "I understand that you have a need to know of things not yet in the past. For one so intelligent as yourself, you must know that it can be a deadly thing to look into the future...it could cost you much more than those you love. People have lost themselves looking for the very same thing you seek to find."

Tails thought a bit and stopped looking to the voice that seemed to echo from everywhere, "Kara is all I have to loose. Nothing else matters."

"Would you willingly say such things if the price for her life was that of another?"

Tails thought for a moment, "Yes..."

"And if that life was Sonic's or Sally's...perhaps the life of their children?"

Tails didn't reply...

"Dulcy has told me a great deal about you Miles...you are not one to sacrifice a life for another. Though you say that you would do so, you know in your heart that you could never do such a thing." The dragon's voice echoed, "No one life is worth the life of another, no sacrifice is worth the pain it would bring you."

Tails couldn't bring himself to go any further, "I...I just can't stand thinking that something could happen to her." He said, "I can't sleep or even think straight anymore. Not knowing that I could wake up tomorrow and she may not be there anymore."

"Miles, you speak of a common fear." The ancient reptile's voice echoed into his skull, "You are not the first to loose self over the thought of loosing those the closest to you. Men and women alike loose themselves daily over the thought of being alone. It is simply a fact that you must accept, fear that you are experiencing is simply a price you must pay for love."

Tails found that he still couldn't reply......

"You spend your time worrying about Kara...feeling that you may loose her." Valia said, "Yet, what precious time you may have left you are simply wandering about, worrying yourself to death over something of which you have no control." She said, "When you should be using what time you have to be with her, share these days with her, use them to show her how much you love her, do not waste what time you have. Make certain that upon leaving this world she will be one of the few that do so with a smile."

Tails hung his head as he left the cave, he'd come here hoping that he'd find some sort of restitution for his weary thoughts, but, instead he was given nothing but the same words he'd already heard from everyone he knew. He thought to himself as he exited the odd dwelling; he didn't really say anything to Espio, he simply picked up his gear...

"Thanks Espio..." He said, "This really helped."

Espio studied the vulpine for a moment, "Are you certain?"

Tails nodded with a short smile before looking at the sky, "Yeah...I just need to get home right now. I should be with Kara, not running around like an idiot."

**-Several Hours later at Tails's house-**

Kara stretched her back and sighed deeply, it was odd, he was only gone for a few hours but, to her if felt like he'd already been gone for days. The golden furred vixen stepped outside hoping to see him on his way back but, the only thing she was met with was the setting sun. She ran her paw across some clothing that she realized Tails had left out to dry hanging from a line suspended by two T shaped structures. She sighed again as she realized that she was hopeless without him, just as he was without her. Kara sighed again as she stepped back toward the house only to scream in surprise as her body was suddenly jerked off the ground; she instantly looked up to see that she was in Tails's arms being carried into the sky...

"Miles!!" She shouted throwing her arms around his neck before kissing the side of his muzzle, "What the hell are you doing?"

Tails smiled, "There's something you have to see. Just hang on."

Kara gladly followed her golden furred love's instructions, hanging on tightly around his neck...

"I really missed you today." She whispered.

"I missed you too.." He replied rubbing his head against hers, "Sorry I haven't been around all that much lately. I promise that'll change though, no more running around, no more last minute trips, just you and me from now on."

Kara nuzzled the vulpine's chest, "That sounds great." She replied, "Where are we going?"

"We'll be there in just another minute."

It wasn't but, a few minutes later that the airborne couple set down; it was incredibly windy for a short time, but, then the air seemed to calm all at once. Kara opened her eyes but, still refused to leave Tails's arms as she simply enjoyed the feel of his fur against hers. He set her on her feet but she still refused to pull her head away from Tails's chest…

"Kara…look." He whispered.

Giving in to the young animal's words, the vixen looked away from him for a moment, she was stunned by what she saw; the landscape seemed to stretch out around them in all directions as if she could see the end of the world and beyond. She had no idea where they were but, the setting sun over the horizon seemed to mesmerize her completely…

"I came up here all the time when I was just a kit…" Tails said walking toward the edge of the plateau they stood on, "Others used to tease me, and chase me away, and even throw things at me because of my tails. When I couldn't take it anymore, I came up here to be alone." He said, "Sonic is the only other person that's ever been up here, I'm sure he's brought Aunt Sally up here too. Sonic adopted me when I was only four or five."

As Tails talked Kara walked to his side taking a seat with him on the ledge of the plateau and scooting up against his side, "I grew up fighting Robotnick so, I got used to being afraid…but, when you asked me about a family…I froze up…I'm not sure why, I think I was just scared that I wouldn't be a good enough father…"

Kara looked to the misty eyed vulpine, "Miles?"

"Sonic is like an older brother to me…" He said, "But, he's the only real father I've ever known. How am I supposed to learn fatherhood from him? When he barely understands what he's doing himself."

Kara chuckled a bit, "Miles…" She started but was cut off by Tails's fingers that pressed against her lips.

"Just…listen, please." He said getting a short nod from her, "I've talked to just about everybody about it, and they've all told me the same thing, and I think I learned something." He said, "I don't need anyone to teach me anything…all I really need is you…the rest will come along on it's own time. I can think of a lot worse things than starting a family with someone that I love so much…" He smiled as he leaned toward her joining his love in a loving embrace fueled by a deeply passionate kiss, "Come on…" He said lifting her into his arms as they broke their kiss, "It's getting late…"

**-Angel Island-**

**-Guardian Knuckles's home-**

As the sun set over the horizon Julie-su and Knuckles stood at the edge of the island looking down on the world below…

"Do you think they'll be her soon Knuckles?" Julie asked talking her lover's paw, "I can feel them nearby but…"

"Don't worry Su, they'll be here soon enough." Knuckles replied, "After all we have a lot to go over before we can sort all this out, and we still have to talk about the Trigger itself."

Julie-su thought for a moment, "Do you really think that it could be Miles?"

"I hope not…but, if it isn't the real Chaos Trigger is connected to him in some way…the emeralds have never reacted to his presence on the island like that before."

Suddenly a presence caught the two echidnas' attentions, "He is not the one we seek…but, I fear that he is dangerously close to the Trigger itself."

Knuckles suddenly shot about to see a silver furred hedgehog standing before them, he was a bit short for his species, and had a fanning head of quills across his brow; he wore a gray tank top and light blue jeans…

"Guardian Silver…Nice to see you've finally made it." Knuckles bowed lightly.

"I'm sure we can leave out the pleasantries Knuckles…" Another more feminine voice called from behind him, "We are after all looking into a very serious issue."

The crimson furred guardian turned to see a lavender furred cat dressed in a dark blue, tailed, shirt with long feathered sleeves, and a pair of white pants, her darker hair lightly tied at the back of her head…

"It's good to see you again Blaze…" He said, "I just wish the two of you were here on happier circumstances. Sonic would be happy to hear from the two of you."

Blaze smiled, "Well, something like the end of the world doesn't mean we can't visit him. I'm sure we'll need his help gathering the emeralds for whatever purpose they may have in mind."

Knuckles looked to Julie-su then to the others, "Well then, follow us back to my place, we have a lot of details to go over before we can thouroughly sort this out. It's been over 5,000 years since the Chaos, Sol, and Super emeralds were all in the same place all at once. We need to prepare for the worst."

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Author Notes: Sorry it seems i cut the end off of this chapter last time i posted it so here's the fixed product...I'll hopefully have chapter 4 out sometime soon. I am Very Very Very Very sorry...


	5. Chapter 4

**Author Notes**: _Well, this has been a long time coming. Sorry for the massive wait all...but, as i'm sure you are all aware, i've been working on a number of different things...and i'll admit that this one fell into the back row for a bit. Once again, sorry. In light of this chapter i'd like to say that i will not be dropping this fic anytime, rather i will start doing more work on it as i finish off the two i am currently at work with...Chains of Fate2 and Second Chance. I'll still be updating this in between the two however. Again i apologize for the staggeringly long wait and will make my best effort to fit this fic into my normal schedule. Thanks for understanding..._

_The Footsteps in the Darkness ~ SkullFox

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**Chapter IV**

Tails groaned a bit as he sat up in his bed, Kara had managed to keep him up a lot longer than he had originally planned. Thought he had no real complaints, his work never managed to hinder his time with her, the only thing that seemed to do that in these recent days was himself. After all designing custom X-gears was no real work at all if he didn't want it to be., most of the time he was fast enough with his paws alone, but when it came to Kara he was more than happy to use his ability to speed things up. He found himself relived as he made his way to the bathroom; he'd not even had the inclination of a bad dream last night. Maybe he really was just thinking too much, maybe it was the fact that for the first time in his life everything was looking his way and it was starting to scare him. Either way his thoughts were where they needed to be now, on the here and now, he'd planned an entire day with the vixen of his dreams and couldn't wait, after all they'd not been on a real date in some time…

**-Angel Island-**

**-Shrine of the Master Emerald-**

Knuckles, Julie-su, Silver, and Blaze gathered around the massive green gem, it's home was hidden in the ruins of an ancient Echidna temple, surrounded by the most dense part of the jungle around it. As they all stood by Knuckles nodded and all found a seat around the Master Emerald…

"Now you all recall why the emeralds were scattered across the dimensions?" The red furred guardian asked.

"Of course…" Blaze replied brushing a bit of her lavender hair from her eyes, "…because the power of all the emeralds was too dangerous to keep in one place all at once. Seven are strong enough; with the Sol, Super, and Chaos emeralds all in one place, plus the Master Emerald…well 22 is just a bit more than one place can handle."

"How do we know?" Silver asked.

"Well…we don't," Knuckles replied, "At the moment there are only theories; some seem to think that the combined force would rip the fabric of time and space itself apart……."

"Others seem to believe that it would make you a god." Julie–su cut in, "And again there are others that think nothing would happen, that the power itself would simply destroy you."

"Is this why we are here?" Silver asked.

Knuckles sighed, "Yes Silver…as guardian of the Super Emeralds it is part of your sworn duty to be prepared for this moment. The Chaos Trigger has only happened once before, over 5,000 years ago. Albion was completely wiped from the land…there was not desert, no ruins, not even a hole in the ground where the city was. Just blank land, like it was never there…"

Blaze looked about, "That was also the day the emeralds were all divided. The Chaos Trigger had used whatever was left of his or her power to send the Super Emeralds and Sol Emeralds to other dimensions."

"But at some point the Super Emeralds found their way back here to Mobius…this Mobius. When I met you Silver and found where you were from however…it gave me the perfect idea. There was no place safer to place the Emeralds than through time itself. I did not think that they could find their way through time to join with the Master Emerald again…I was wrong…" Knuckles pointed out.

"Do we at least know where the Trigger is?" Blaze asked.

Julie-su looked to Knuckles before looking to the lavender furred feline, "He is……close by. We have no need to worry about finding him."

"Well at least that much of the search we don't have to worry about right?" Silver asked.

Blaze rubbed the hedgehog's head, "Yes Silver. Unfortunately it is nearly time, they will call to him soon. We need to start gathering them as soon as possible."

Knuckles stood, "I agree the more of them we have the less of them we have to worry about someone else finding. If someone found out how to draw the power from just one they'd be capable of some pretty horrible stuff."

"Where do we start?" Silver asked.

"I'm going to take Sonic with me to Albion…" Knuckles said, "We'll search there. Silver, you and Blaze are going to head for Redmaine…"

Silver thought for a moment, "Hmm…finding all of these emeralds could take a bit of time."

Knuckles sighed, "And the problem is that we have so little time to spare."

**-Mobotropolis-**

Tails had promised that he'd take Kara out into the city, he'd given it a lot of thought over the last few weeks and came to the realization that he missed the days of just the two of them. They'd visited Sonic and Sally for a bit before heading out into the city, stopping here and there, whenever they really felt like it, eventually stopping at an outdoor diner that was in the city square. A place where all sorts of couples gathered to eat on days like this, when the sun was out and the wind was cool. Tails sat there for the longest time studying the animal that sat across from him, who wiped her mouth with a napkin before chuckling a bit…

"Miles why are staring at me like that?"

"Like what?" Tails replied with a smile.

Kara lay her head in her paws resting her elbows on the table, "Like you're about to leap over this table and give all these people a show."

Tails chuckled, "It's hard not to look at you like that." He replied, "Hell there's a part of me that wishes we'd never get out of bed in the morning."

This time Kara laughed, "Well…as pleasant as it sounds. We can't just stay in bed all day and all night like that."

Tails smiled leaning on the table a bit, "Can't see why not. Didn't stop us on our honeymoon."

Kara blushed a bit, "Well…I'm not going to lie. That was a fun couple of days, but, it was also exhausting. I have to admit though, I've never slept better in my entire life."

Tails laughed before looking to her, "Yeah. I know what you mean. Not to mention after two solid days I felt like they were gonna fall off."

Kara and Tails shared a laugh, "Well I wouldn't want that."

The two continued chatting while finishing their food when suddenly Tails's face seemed to go blank, void of expression altogether. He seemed to be in some sort of trance-like state. Kara tried to snap him out of it for a moment before his eyes fluttered; he took a moment shaking his head before digging at his ear with a finger. The golden furred vixen across from him looked a bit worried…

"Miles? Are you alright?" She asked, "You blanked out there for a minute."

Tails dug at his ear again, "Yeah, I think so. That was really fuck'n weird. Did you just hear someone calling my name?"

"No…" Kara replied, "Just me."

Tails suddenly looked off to the west of where they were, "There it is again. You can't tell me you don't hear that."

Kara listened as closely as she could, "I'm sorry Miles. I don't hear anything, just the people around us." She said, "Are you sure you're feeling alright?"

Tails stood up, "Yeah…Look, come with me."

The two left enough to pay for their meals and headed down the streets before Tails reached to Kara picking her up bridal style and taking off into the air. Kara was worried about him…she wasn't used to Tails acting like this. At the moment he was for some reason following a voice that as far as she could tell only he could hear. She didn't really bother to say anything, as apparently Tails was sure about where it was he was headed. She simply held onto him while they flew over the city, until he came down setting her feet on the sand of the local beach. He looked from place to place before rushing down the beach, with the lovely vixen rushing behind him until he dropped to his knees digging frantically into the sand. Soon he stood up holding his paws a blood red rough crystal with jagged pointy ends…

"What is it?" Kara asked.

Tails looked on in amazement at the glowing shard, "It…it's a super emerald."

"Why don't you sound to happy about that?" Kara asked.

Tails looked to his mate, "Cuz this is what was calling me…"

Their day cut short, Tails and Kara quickly headed home there was something peculiar about the fact that the emerald had called out to him. Knuckles had often mentioned to him that the Emeralds all had a voice, but, Tails had never really believed it, he'd always thought it was some sort of metaphor. It was late that night when Kara sat up in bed noticing that lover wasn't there. She didn't bother cinching up the sash around her bath robe before heading downstairs looking for him. Oddly enough she found him in his small lab he'd always had set up in the house's basement, where he looked at the Emerald that sat on his work bench while a disassembled rifle lay in front of him, who's barrel he was busy cleaning out…

"Hey…" He said keeping his attention to his work, "Sorry, couldn't sleep."

Kara sighed hugging him from behind, "That's good…I thought maybe I was already loosing my touch. You're usually so worn out by now that you could sleep for days." She chuckled.

"I didn't say I wasn't tired…" Tails said with a chuckle, "Just that I couldn't sleep."

Kara looked at the parts in front of him, she hadn't seen his rifle "Requiem" in some times, "Miles……why did you name that rifle Requiem?"

Tails chuckled as he peered through the barrel in his paws, "The word Requiem was originally used in a Latin term; it was used to describe music used to celebrate the passing of the dead." He said, "After all that business with Nack a long time ago, Sonic heard me practicing with this rifle, said it sounded like music." He said assembling a few pieces of the weapon, "I just assumed it was a fitting name…if this thing sings it's a song of death."

"Couldn't you just use your ability to reassemble that gun?" She asked.

Tails sighed, "Yeah, and it'd be done flawlessly and in an instant." He said as he slowly assembled the weapon, "There was one thing that Nack always taught me though, and it was something that stuck with me. There's a certain level of intimacy between me and this rifle. I take care of Requiem and she protects me, and you when there's a need for it. Using my Technopathy would be an insult to that trust." He said, "I always sort of hated my ability because it set me apart from everyone else…but, when everything happened with Robotnick and Nox, I realized that it wasn't all that bad…especially after I found that everyone was willing to accept it. I still don't use it as much as some people would, but, I think that's just because I love working with my own paws."

Kara chuckled in his hear before kissing his cheek, "Trust me your paws are good with more than just machines." She said, "I should know."

Tails couldn't help but laugh, her sense of humor always had a way of making him stop thinking, "Yeah…I sort of have to give you credit for that." He said laying down his weapon as he looked out of the corner of his eye, and slowly scaled up the vixen standing beside him with a smile, "You bring out the worst in me."

Kara chuckled before walking over to the Emerald, "So……you said something about collecting these right?"

"Yeah…" Tails said, "I don't fully understand it myself but, the Emeralds are for a lack of better term……alive. I think in total they share a core consciousness that we call the Master Emerald. I'm gonna assume you've hear of the Chaos Emeralds themselves."

Kara sighed as she ran her claws over the rough gem, "Of course I have."

"Well……the Master Emerald is on Angel Island." The young scientist replied, "I did some studies on it a long time ago…took a while to convince Knuckles to let me spend that much time around the Master Emerald too."

Kara turned to look at Tails who began to assemble his weapon again, "The Master Emerald is also a power source that filters energy out to the other emeralds. I still can't figure out how this is done, then again the whole process doesn't really make any real scientific sense anyhow." He said, "All I can tell you is that when someone like Sonic, or Knuckles draws out the energy in any of the Chaos Emeralds they become pretty much unstoppable. I did it once when I was little, and it nearly killed me. Sometimes I wonder if I'm strong enough to handle it now, but, to be honest, I've always been a little afraid of what might happen."

As he said this he stopped holding out a fully assembled rifle before laying it on the table in front of him…

"What I've been trying to find out is why it was I hear this Emerald calling to me." He said standing and stepping toward it, "And why it stopped as soon as I picked it up. That's why I've decided that tomorrow, I have to go to Angel Island to see Knuckles."

Kara gasped, "Can I come this time? I want to see where Knuckles lives, Julie-Su says so many wonderful things about it."

Tails thought to himself for a moment, "I don't really see the harm in it." He replied, "After all I've been planning on showing you what Crystal Falls looks like."

Kara took the young kitsune by the arm, "Well then lets get some sleep…I don't wanna look like a zombie or something when we get there…and you could use a little more sleep."

Tails looked into her eyes only to be met with a sharp grin, "I know that look…" He said as they headed up the stairs, "And sleep is the last thing on your mind right now." He pointed out turning out the lights.

**-The Next Morning-**

Tails and Kara were quickly dressed and ready to leave, of course Tails took Dusk, Dawn, and Requiem with him, for safety sake, while Kara made certain to bring with her the pistol that Tails had given to her. She was ultimately surprised at how short a distance the travel was, though it was to no great surprise of hers thanks to the X-Gears that Tails had made for them both. They took a moment to rest on a cliff that overlooked the ocean, where Kara looked onto the island in the sky; from it's sides perfect cascades of water fell to a gathering lake below….

"What keeps the island up there like that?" She asked.

Tails smiled, "The Master Emerald….it's energy field lifted this island out of the ocean, and after a while it drifted…and stopped here over the mainland. Nobody really knows why." He explained, "The Echidna tribe is from the island. There are ancient ruins all over the place."

"Will we see any?" Kara asked.

"Hmmm…" Tails mused, "Not sure. Good chance though." He said putting his folding X-Gear away, "Come on."

Kara followed his example putting away her gear before Tails lifted her, bridal style, and carried the both of them into the air. Kara took the moment to rest her head on Tails's shoulder; she loved flying with him, though she seemed a bit disappointed when they both landed on the island, where Tails sat her on her feet. The young vulpine lovers slowly walked toward the small cabin in the distance, however a welcoming figure awaited them…

"Miles…" Julie-su exclaimed hugging the young vulpine, "…Knuckles was right in having me stay behind…sometimes I think there isn't a thing he doesn't know."

Tails pulled away from the dark pink furred Echidna, "Yeah he is pretty smart." The kitsune replied, "Too bad he's gullible as hell."

Julie-su chuckled, "His innocence is simply because he tries to see the good in everyone, even people that have no good to them." She said, "It is one of the many traits that I cherish so much about him."

It was as Tails moved aside that Kara hugged Julie-su, "It's good to see you Su. You two really should come down from here a bit more often."

Julie-su gestured for the two to join her sitting at a set of stone carved seats near the front of the small cabin…where the three sat. Tails quickly pulled the Super Emerald from his small pack laying it on the small table between them…

"Su…could you possibly explain why Kara and I found this on the beach?" He asked.

"I am sorry Miles." Julie-su replied, "I wish that I could…but, Knuckles has asked me to keep this matter to myself until he gets back with Sonic." She said, "He does wish to speak with you though…in fact there are several people that want to see you that haven't seen you in some time. Both Silver, and Blaze are here."

Tails smiled, "Really?" He asked, "I haven't seen Silver or Blaze in a long time."

"Who?" Kara asked.

"They're old friends." Tails replied, "You'll love Blaze…she's awesome. Silver……well he's……well……"

"Too innocent for his own good." Julie-su filled in, "He tries his hardest to help anyone, but, he's incredibly naive. He is also a powerful Telekinetic…" She said, "You two are welcome to stay here for the night, you know how fast Sonic and Knuckles both are…they should be back soon enough."

"I would have to get some things from the house first." Tails replied, "Are you sure we wouldn't be a bother or something?"

"No of course not." Julie-su replied, "I miss having you around Miles. Knuckles and I see so little of you since you married Kara."

"I know…" Tails replied, "I haven't exactly been spending enough time with her lately either though." He said looking to the young vixen, "That's gonna change though. What do you think? Wanna wait here?" He asked Kara.

"I can't see why not…" She replied, "I wouldn't mind visiting with Julie-su a bit more anyhow."

Tails sighed as the vixen smiled at him, "Alright then…" He replied, "What is it we can do then?"

"Can we look around the island?" Kara asked, "I want to see this huge emerald you always talked about."

Tails looked to Julie-su, "Well? Your call if old chipmunk face isn't here."

The light red furred echidna smiled, "I cannot see why not." She replied, "There isn't really anything worth worrying about here. Besides you should really leave your weapons anyhow. The emerald really doesn't like guns."

The three soon left the small cabin, and headed north through the lush forestry of the island. Kara had never actually been to the island before, she'd never seen a place more beautiful, or as mysterious. It was as they traveled that Kara looked to Julie-su…

"Su…" She said, "I have a question. Why is this island floating?"

Julie-su chuckled, "I am surprised you did not bother to ask Miles that question long ago."

The young vixen chuckled a bit, "I really try not to ask too many questions…I know it irritates him when people ask too many questions." She replied rubbing Tails' head.

"Well…" Julie-su said, "Angel Island was not always in the position it's in now; it used to lay off the coast of the main continent. The Echidna mostly lived on the island for what seemed like ages before the Emeralds were discovered. The first tribal elders declared that they were sacred objects and had them placed in the ruins on the island." The echidna sighed, "Unfortunately there was eventually some…hard feelings between the tribes about where the Emeralds should be kept. A war between two of the stronger tribes broke out, and when they finally brought the fight to the place where the Master Emerald sleeps, the entire island shook and suddenly began to rise from the seas. That was when it was declared that the Emerald hates war…through Sonic it has managed to do great things against war, but, in the end there will always be war and conflict in the world."

"What do you mean?" Kara asked.

"It's simply nature Kara." Tails sighed, "Even in conflict there can be no such thing as peace without war."

Kara sighed, "Hmm…this is about Chaos being the nature of existence. Is that why it's called a Chaos Emerald?"

Julie-su chuckled, "You're right Miles…she is smarter than most give her credit for."

The three slowly made their way into the jungle landscapes of the island; even Tails knew better than to go into this place without either Knuckles or Su with him. It was easy for one to get lost in such a place; riddled with ruins of the past. He wondered how often animals had come to be lost in the ruins there. He knew of a few instances in which Knuckles had told him of archeologists that had come to the island in search of god only knows what, and had to take them back to the mainland, even though Tails was certain he'd have been perfectly fine with leaving them there…

It was as they walked on that the scenery began to change slowly, from the harsh jungles, to showing small bits of ruined stone buildings and sculptures mixed into the creeping vegetation. Tails could see a wold of awe and wonder in Kara's eyes; from what he'd heard from the young vixen she'd never really gotten out a lot in the past due to some rather rough experiences, some of which she actually refused to talk about. He had to admit that he would have been just as amazed, had this been his first time on the island. It was a beautiful place full of green, and here there were flowers of many colors and scents. The young vixen jumped a bit as his paw wrapped about hers…

"Sorry…" He chuckled, "…didn't mean to scare you."

Kara sighed, "You didn't. This place is just so beautiful that I……I just sort of lost myself."

"I know…I was the same way when I first came here." He replied.

Julie-su laughed, "He was so frightened that he clung to Sally's leg the whole time he was up here." The female guardian said, "Knuckles told me all about it Miles. And some other things that happened when you were living with Sonic."

Tails chuckled, "Yeah, like what?" He asked.

"How about when you ate those Makkanii Berries and ended up running through the streets of the city, in nothing but your fur?" She asked.

Kara chuckled as Tails looked to Su, "Funny I don't remember that."

"Well the berries do cause hallucinations so there's a good chance that you never will." She said, "But, Knuckles and Sally both have pictures of that day if you care to see them Kara."

Tails glared at her a bit, but nothing else remained said. He simply sighed, and turned his attention to the vixen next to him. She was still laughing, possibly at the thought of the vulpine running nude through the streets because of eating some wild berries. However, it was as Julie-su pulled to a stop that Kara felt something, and placed a paw over her heart as she and Tails followed Su into a vast clearing. There at the epicenter of the glade, sat a small ruin; it almost resembled an altar. It was all carved of white stone, and sitting at it's center was a massive jade colored gem, at least twice as large as any animal she'd ever seen, and around it sat seven small stone pillars. Looking onto that emerald, the young vixen felt a bizarre warmth wash over her…

"This is the Master Emerald." Julie-su said, "It is the source of the power that emanates from the chaos emeralds."

"Su…" Kara said calmly, "I feel……strange."

The echidna chuckled, "That is the power pooling from the emerald. There are many people who believe that this emerald was forged in pure chaos…but, I have felt the very same thing that you feel right now…that is why I believe there is more to the emerald than meets the eye."

Tails sighed, "Then what about Chaos? When he got loose he almost destroyed everything."

Julie-su sighed, "Miles. Chaos was originally placed over the emerald as a guardian, much like Knuckles's entire clan. These emeralds represent a balance, and that balance needs to be kept up." She said, "When that balance it threatened, it was once said that the Chaos Trigger will come, and return the world to ashes, allowing it to be reborn again."

Tails thought for a moment, "Chaos Trigger?"

"Yes, Miles." Su replied, "It was a legend held very high in the Echidna Tribes. Supposedly, when this Chaos Trigger appears the emeralds will gather and grant to him or her, the power to end this existence. Allowing Mobius to start over."

Kara looked to the emerald in shock, "That……that's horrible."

Su nodded, "That is the basis of existence in itself. Chaos is nature; hence the emeralds are nature. If it is in their nature to do something…there really is no way of stopping it." She said, "But…" She said with a jolly tone turning to the two vulpine, "As far as we know this is just a legend."

"Most legends are based in a truth of some kind though." Tails replied.

"True enough." Su replied, "If you two wouldn't mind though, I am a bit hungry."

Kara sighed, "Now that you mention it. How long have we been walking? I'm a bit hungry myself."

"Well then let's head back…" Su said looking to the sky, "Knuckles should be back soon. He said he and the others would be back before dark." She said, "I'm certain he was planning to go see you."

Tails sighed, "I doubt this can be anything particularly good." He said.

"What makes you say that?" Kara asked.

Tails walked along side the vixen as the three headed back toward Julie-su and Knuckles's place, "Once you get to know him well enough you start to realize that there are only so many things that'll actually drag him away from Su……and most of the time, it's not for something you wanna hear."

Noting the tone of his voice, Kara slowly leaned over kissing Tails's cheek; she could tell when something was on his mind. Unfortunately with all that had happened in the time they'd been together, she knew that he wouldn't tell her the truth about it if he thought it would cause her any type of distress.. She loved him, but as of recently didn't really understand his state of mind so much; it was usually simple feat for her to see into his mind. To her he was open to her as her favorite book; recently however, she worried about him, she wasn't quite certain what to call it……but, something was fully disturbing Miles, and she could see it in his eyes, feel it in his touch. At first she had simply thought that he was still worrying himself about where his bother Nox might be, or might be doing at the moment…but, as quickly as he reacted to finding the emerald, she knew it was nothing to do with Nox. The vixen sighed as she drew closer laying her head on Tails's shoulder…

"Something wrong?" He asked lightly figuring she was just tired.

The vixen sighed again, "Not really." She said, "Listen miles, if something was wrong……you'd tell me right? All of this emerald business has me…worried."

Tails reached around her shoulders laying his head against hers as they walked, "Don't worry about it. Nothing bad's gonna happen this time. Knux and the others can figure this out. I just have to know what's going on…then we can go home alright?"

He'd skipped her question on purpose and she could tell; without a doubt she now knew something was wrong, but, pressuring him for answers at this point would only serve to push him further away. All she could do is hope that at some point was remind him that she was there, and that there was nothing that he couldn't tell her. She would simply be there for him, just the same as he was for her. Even however in this state of mind, the vixen found some sense of comfort in knowing he was there with her. She told herself that she'd simply ask him for the truth directly when she had the chance, for now she would simply enjoy the time that she had with him, with all the time he'd been spending away from her recently it was time that she missed very much….and time she had every intention of making up for……


	6. Chapter 5

**A/N: **_Hey guys. Sorry this took so freaking long, but, I've been held up with a few too many projects at once. My bad...I'll do my best to update again soon. That may actually be sooner than i think since one of the two Fic's I'm working on at the moment will be done in about two more chapters. Again I'm sorry about hideously late updates..._

_The Footsteps in the Darkness ~ SkullFox

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**…...****Chapter V...…**

It took a short time to arrive back at Julie-su's home, as Kara seemed adamant to explore anything that she'd not seen before on the island. Tails could help but to smile every time she found something new and unusual to explore, especially when Su explained the plant, or random critter's nature or name. The golden furred vixen reminded him very much of himself when he was a freedom fighter. However, even after they had arrived and all was said and done for the night; the three still found themselves alone eating a eagerly prepared supper. It was after they had been sitting there for a while that Su jumped a bit, only to reach into her pocket retrieving a small cell phone…one of the only real technological items she possessed and flipped it open holding it to her ear…

"Knuckles?" She asked, "Where are you? You said you'd be back tonight."

Though it was slightly muffled, Tails's hearing was slightly elevated due to his constant training, "I'm fine Su. Sonic and I ran into a little bit of a snag here…we're gonna be held up for the night. We haven't even heard anything from Shadow and Rouge. Blaze and Silver have already found three of them."

Julie-su sighed, "Well Miles found one of the super emeralds, so we have one more."

"Is he there with you now?"

Su turned her head a bit, "Yes."

"Does he know?"

"No…I don't think so." Su replied.

Knuckles sighed, "Well…don't worry about it. Just have him sleep there for the night and we'll be there to talk to him in the morning."

Su sighed a bit as she realized that Knuckles had to leave his phone, "Just be careful, okay?" She said, "I love you."

"I love you too Su." Knuckles replied, "And don't worry about it. Me and Sonic have been through a lot worse than tall of this."

Julie-su brought the two vulpine a few fresh blankets to keep them warm, while informing them that they could stay for the night. Luckily the place had been built with the idea of having guests over once in a while, and there was a spare room. It was as Tails lay there, that Kara made her way out of the bathroom wearing nothing but her fur and a pair of lace panties. She studied the young vulpine sitting on the edge of the bed for a moment and could instantly tell something was seriously bothering him again. Just as she was certain that he'd cleared all of this from his mind, he began to lull off again…

"Miles…" She said as she crawled up behind him sitting on her knees, while resting her paws on his shoulders, "…what's wrong?"

Tails reached up pulling the vixen's arms down around his neck bringing her head over his shoulder where he began rubbing his cheek against hers, "I don't know. Knuckles sounded strange when he was on the phone with Su. Almost like he was worried about something bad…it takes a lot to worry him when it involves the emeralds."

The gorgeous young vixen pulled her paws back up to his shoulders where she expertly began to knead the tension from his muscles, "I'm sure everything is going to be fine Miles. Sonic and Knuckles have both dealt with this stuff before."

Her treatment began to make Tails's eyes lull shut, and he rolled his neck a bit, "That's not what worries me. I heard that emerald, it was calling my name…but…"

Kara stopped and looked over his shoulder, "But, what?"

Miles swallowed hard, "It…it was using your voice. It sounded like you were in pain." With the thought of something or someone hurting her in his mind, Tails pulled her back against him pulling her arms back around his neck, this time running one paw through her hair massaging her scalp, causing the vixen to purr into his shoulder…

"Kara…" He said.

"Yeah?" The vixen replied.

He paused for a moment, "You…know I love you, right?"

The vixen squeezed her arms around his neck lovingly as she ran her muzzle up the side of his face, "And I love you more and more every day." She replied.

Tails leaned back causing the vixen to allow his head to fall to her lap where he stared up at her face, "I want to talk to you about something." He said playfully pressing his muzzle up between her breasts, the cold sensation of his nose causing the vixen to shutter a bit.

"Don't do that…" Kara giggled, "…it tickles."

Tails chuckled as he settled his head back on her lap where the vixen gently stroked his head, "It's about starting a family."

Kara chuckled, "Don't worry about it. I know it's a little early to worry about that sort of thing anyhow."

"No…" Tails replied reaching up and pulling her face down to look at him, "…listen. I'll always have everything I'll ever need; hell if I can't afford it I usually just make it myself, but, with you it's different. On our honeymoon I offered you anything under the stars, and you remember what you told me?"

The vixen smiled running her paw over his cheek, "That I already had it; and I stick by that. I had everything I ever wanted the moment you put this on my finger." She replied holding up her left paw to display her ring, "I know what it is you're trying to say Miles…but, it's okay. We can concentrate on everything else later." She said smiling as she allowed him to fall to the bed, where she turned about straddling his chest, "At the moment I am the only thing you need to worry about." She smiled devilishly.

Tails looked around for a moment, "You really think that's smart? Julie-su is upstairs and…"

His words were cut off as the vixen's tender lips quickly pressed against his which started as a supple, loving kiss…and ignited into a burning, passionate embrace. Tails thought to himself, he thought about all the wonderful things that he loved about this vixen, every trait and quality she had that made her who she was. This was one of those traits, she was passionate beyond anything or anyone he'd ever known, so passionate that he could almost taste it, he could feel and harness it like a power source…and it was this passion that brought out his own. In all his years he'd never thought he'd know the kind of love that he'd found in Kara, but, he was happy that he had. Though being with the love of his life cleared most things from his mind however, there was still a pang of worry at the back of his mind, hidden behind his current feelings. He felt something coming more and more with every passing day, his only hopes were that when the storm he knew was brewing hit land, he and Kara would not be at it's epicenter…

**-The next morning-**

Tails woke up holding his head, often Kara managed to be a bit too passionate, which was most likely the cause of his current headache. He slowly gathered up his clothing, getting dressed as he headed out of the small room; finding that it was quite early the young kitsune headed out of the small house. Out here it was cool and the many smells of the island soothed his mind. At this time in the morning, when the sun's light barely began to peek over the horizon, Angel Island became a sight to behold. It gathered thick fog hiding the world below from view, making it seem like the island was a heavenly sight. It was as he stood there looking out over the vast expanse before him that a pair of very warm, soft paws wrapped around his chest bringing a familiar face just into view over his shoulder. The vixen nuzzled his neck as she looked out over the horizon…

"It's beautiful." She said.

Tails sighed as he looked to her, "It really is…" He said, "…now that you're here."

Tails turned about with a smile placing a small kiss on the vixen's lips before something caught his attention, causing him to push the vixen around behind him. His ears zeroed in on something, and Kara noticed that he now had one of his pistols in his paw…

"What's going on?" She asked.

Suddenly from the upstairs room of the small house there was a light scream, followed by loud rustling and the sound of something being knocked over. He pressed his back against the vixen behind him readying his weapon, before suddenly the wall around the upstairs window exploded outward, sending a black dressed animal flying out into view where the animal bounced across the ground. It only took a moment for the animal to recover before a pink furred echidna leaped from the hole in the wall wearing only a torn nighty that revealed her left breast. Tails kept his weapon aimed at the unconscious animal that lay on the ground. Su huffed a bit at the animal before looking to Tails, who coughed a bit before patting his left breast. The echidna looked to her nighty and pulled up the small flap that exposed half her chest to the cold air. Her face twisted into an expression of anger before she swung her foot into the animal's ribs, the force of the blow lifted the ninja-esque animal off the ground a few inches sending it sliding across the ground several feet. Tails knew what it meant to piss off an echidna, as they seemed to all be incredibly strong…

"Knuckles bought this for my birthday." Su pouted, "It was my favorite one."

Tails turned his head, "I understand but, could you please cover up."

Julie-su sighed, "Oh I'm sorry Miles." She said walking back into the house, "Tie that animal up. I have questions for her when she comes to."

Tails made a quick effort to make certain the animal didn't go anywhere taking her into the living room, before managing to tie her up, leaving her on the sofa. It was as stood guard there with Kara at his side, that Tails looked at the attacker. He was certain this was the same person that attempted to steal the chaos emeralds that he had at his place. Reaching over, the young vulpine pulled the tight mask up over the animal's head. He stepped back a bit as he studied the face. She had white fur, and a tuft of slightly long white hair, while her round ears were black. Tails's eyes softened as he looked her over, and as Su finally appeared he looked to her…

"Su…it's Barby." He said.

The echidna quickly headed over to the animal as Tails wiped a bit of blood from the Koala's face, "Miles…who is Barby?" Kara asked.

Tails looked over to the vixen, "An old friend. I met her when Sonic and I were still freedom fighters. She from way down south…but, she attacked me the other day too. When you were out…she was after the emeralds." He said, "But why would she want them, she's never showed any interest in them before."

Kara thought for a moment, "Wait…so she attacked you before we found that emerald?"

Tails sighed, "Yeah. I feel kinda like crap now that I know I hit her actually."

It was as they sat there thinking about the situation that Julie-su looked to the door, "Miles I think you should step outside." She suddenly said, "Kara I'm afraid I need you to stay here. Knuckles is outside."

Tails looked to Kara, who stood up hugging him before he stepped away from her, "Look just keep her tied up until she wakes up and we can talk to her at least a little bit."

Tails slowly walked out of the cabin, and came to rest before three familiar animals; Knuckles, Blaze, and Silver. None of them seemed to react to him as they stood there, they simply looked to one another before they finally nodded to Silver, causing him to walk up to Tails resting his paw on the vulpine's forehead. The silver furred hedgehog closed his eyes for a moment; Tails was a bit afraid to actually move, it was clear that the psionic animal was clearly up to something. He finally released Tails and backed up turning and nodding to Knuckles who simply sighed shaking his head…

"Miles…" The crimson furred echidna said, "…come with us."

Though unsure why, the trio of guardians led Tails through the area; all of them keeping silent. He hated seeing them like this, he knew that Silver could link with their minds keeping their thoughts completely silent to anyone but themselves. Tails however looked between them, back and forth, something was definitely not right. First there was the fact that the super emerald had called out to him, now there is the fact that the guardians of all the emeralds were all being completely withdrawn from him. He was right to be worried, because he was well aware of where it was they were taking him, they were guiding him to see the master emerald. It wasn't too long before he found himself there, standing in the ruins there before the large green gem. It was there that the three guardians stood before the emerald facing the young kitsune…

"Miles…" Knuckles said looking to Blaze.

"It's okay I'll tell him…" She said looking to Tails, "…Miles. I don't think either of the three of us needs to tell you that there's something seriously wrong. I'm sure someone as smart as you has already realized that all the chaos emeralds are here now." The feline said, "look Miles. Over three thousand years ago; the master emerald was found. It was found by a single echidna that claimed it had called out to him. Eventually his tribe was involved in a war when the emerald was discovered by another tribe of echidna. When his tribe looked into the face of destruction however, the one who discovered the emerald was absorbed by what was declared by the tribes to be the light of heaven. When he finally came to, his tribe along with any other nearby tribe had been completely demolished."

Knuckles sighed, "That was the birth of the first guardian, my ancestor Te'kol. He swore himself to the emerald, and every animal in his family line after that day. What happened to him was what was eventually called the Chaos Trigger."

Tails looked to the three of them, "It's me isn't it?" He asked, "That's why you three brought me out here alone, that why all the secrecy. What are you gonna do to me now?"

Blaze stepped forward hugging the young fox, "Miles, we would never do anything to hurt you. Chaos Trigger or not."

As she rejoined the other two Knuckles turned and looked to the master emerald, "Tails. You've done countless studies on chaos energy…but, the Chaos Trigger is something nobody has ever been able to study. Apparently it happens in times of great stress on the world; Mobius and the emeralds are all connected. We are not sure how but, they are. We also aren't sure whether the Trigger is bad or good. When it first happened, it was to protect the emerald. We can't be sure why it's happening now but, we've come to the decision that it is because something terrible is about to happen…and it involves both you, and Mobius itself."

Silver seemed to wait for a moment, "I have seen inside the thoughts of the emerald itself Miles. It does call out to you…but, I can't be certain that it is begging for your help, or trying to warn you." He said, "I don't blame you if you turn away from all of this but…I believe it has something to do with this dream of yours that Knuckles has told me so much about…it worries me."

Tails thought to himself for a moment, "But my dream. It wasn't about me it was about…Kara."

The three looked concerned as the vulpine came to a realization; he had looked into the future. It was as Knuckles realized that Tails had put this all together that Tails turned and started to run, only to find that the red furred guardian's powerful mitt was wrapped about his arm…

"Miles!" He shouted, "Stop! There is nothing here that can harm Kara and I'm not about to let anyone hurt you or her. If what you saw in that dream really does cause the Chaos Trigger, then there is no possible way that I'm going to let it happen."

Tails quickly wrenched his arm free, "You can't help!" He yelled, "Nobody can! Not even I can! And I'm not about to hang around here, when something could be happening to her. Someone's gonna try to take her from me and I'm not about to let them get away with it."

It was as he stormed off that Silver called out to him, "Miles. Don't stare into the abyss. When it stares back you'll come to find you can't stand what you see."

Miles only stopped for a moment before turning his eyes to the ground and continuing on his way. Knuckles sighed deeply shaking his head as he lay his paw on the Master Emerald for a moment…he wondered if there was even any point in doing this, but, the Chaos Trigger meant that something big was coming, unfortunately there was no way for him to get through to Tails, at least not in his current state of mind. The only real way to get Tails to accept this, he was going to have to simply realize it for himself. Knuckles finally looked to Silver and Blaze before sighing and heading back toward his hut. Blaze turned to look over the large emerald She thought to herself for a moment before she felt the silver furred hedgehog's arm fall across her shoulders. With a short smile she lay her head on his shoulder…

"He doesn't understand at all." She sighed.

Silver sighed in reply, "I wish we could tell them." He said.

"So do I but, we can't…" Blaze replied, "…there's no telling what kind of outcome it could have on the future."

"Do you think you can send him to talk with me?" Silver asked.

Blaze thought for a moment, "Are you going to do something stupid?"

Silver chuckled, "When have I ever done anything stupid?" He asked, "Naive maybe."

"Silver…" Blaze replied walking away, "…listen. I know you see a lot of yourself in Miles. Just don't do anything you're going to regret."

Silver sighed as he looked to the bright and blue midday sky, "I would never endanger the future like that. I just want to talk to him. Maybe he'll listen to me knowing where I'm from. He was just angry, I know how he feels…I get the same why when I think about not seeing you again."

The feline chuckled kissing the hedgehog on the cheek, "Hearing that makes me wish we could spend more time like this together." She said turning and heading off, "

Silver simply chuckled as he looked over his shoulder, watching the feline move out of sight. He wondered how she'd react if he were to tell her the truth; about the things that happened in the future. Nobody could understand how hard it was on him knowing so much about the future. He was certain however he could get through to Tails. He only hoped that the vulpine would listen to reason…


	7. Chapter 6

**AN: **_Okay here's chapter six as long overdue as it is. No words can express my apologies for lagging my lumbering ass on this fic. So I apologize. Please enjoy the chapter. I'll update again soon...promise. ^^_

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**Chapter VI**

As Miles found himself walking back toward Knuckles's shack, he suddenly found a familiar silver furred hedgehog walking beside him. Though he was always happy to talk with a friend, now was a moment that the young fox was simply not in the mood for any kind of chat. He kept walking, hoping that Silver would take the hint but, unfortunately subtly was not one of the young hedgehog's stronger suits…

"Silver…" Miles finally said, "…if you want something just say so. I'm really not having a good day."

Silver nodded, "I do not need any form of telepathy to know this." He replied, "Miles. I would like the chance to speak with out…" He paused, "…man to man, I believe is the proper term."

Miles finally threw up his paws before finding a seat on a nearby log, "Alright. Let's hear it. How this isn't what I think, and that I should take the time I have. I know I can't do anything about Kara. At least not right now…but, now I have this damned Chaos Trigger thing to worry about."

Silver sighed as he walked about for a moment, "You know…this island is just a memory in my time. It is sad to see that something so beautiful could be destroyed," He said, "I've personally watched too many beautiful things be destroyed."

Miles took a moment before he sighed, "Silver. What exactly is the Chaos Trigger?"

"That is a very valid question Miles…" Silver sighed, "…the Chaos Trigger is simply one with whom the emeralds share a common bond with. I do not claim to know much more about this than Julie-Su or Knuckles…but, I do know that if the Trigger is someone like you Miles. We are all safe."

The young fox chuckled, "Thanks Silver. I know I shouldn't ask this but…"

"Miles nothing would make me happier than to tell you what you want to know, but, I cannot tell you any details of the future because of the fact that everything we are doing right now is altering it…" He said, "…I cannot say anything that will assure you that everything will work out for the best but, I can say this…" He said tapping the fox's should causing Miles to look to him, "You and Kara love one another, you seem almost share a soul and consciousness. These last few days have been the longest time I have been allowed to spend with the one that I love…" He said looking to the ground, "…at least you have all the time you could hope to spend with her. I would give anything to have even a small portion of that time with Blaze. Perhaps then I would not feel so terrible about wanting to confess my love for her."

Miles shook his head, "I know I've taken her for granted, but, it's not like I was doing it on purpose. I can't explain it but, I loved Kara from the minute I saw her. I couldn't explain it then, and I can't now, and I don't care what sort of explanation there can be. I just want her to be there when I wake up…"

"I can understand that Miles," Silver replied, "tell me Miles, have you ever met your father?"

The fox chuckled, "Couse I have. I don't remember a whole lot about him but, he was a great man."

"I had to come to the past to meet my father," Silver replied, "to be honest when I first met him, I did not see him as the man that mother made him out to be…but, after seeing him now. I understand what she could see in him."

Miles chuckled, "He doesn't like to show the kind of person he really is but, I know what you mean."

Silver quickly looked to the fox, "You knew?"

"It wasn't easy to pick up," He replied, "but, you two are pretty similar. Even if he'd rather say he wasn't so soft. Though I have to admit, Your mom used to scare the hell outta me…still does a little."

"Well she scares just about everybody accept for dad," Silver replied, "look. Hope for the best…hope is all you need. It's served me well, trust me it'll do the same for you with a little faith."

"Well faith is something I've been a little lacking on," Miles sighed, "how's the emerald search going?"

Silver nodded, "Well…Shadow and Rouge managed to find several of the Sol Emeralds. You know how Rouge is with sparkly rocks. They think they will have all seven of them within the next few days but, our biggest concern is the fact that we are gathering signals from an unfamiliar source. According to Sally it is a strangely encrypted signal that Nicole says resembles speech of some kind."

Miles thought for a moment, "An encrypted signal that…resembles speech? Doesn't sound right."

Silver nodded, "Well…I'll leave that one up to you. Something isn't right about any of this."

The young fox took a calming breath before reaching into a pack he wore, where he removed a pair of emeralds that he rested in Silver's hands, "They aren't safe with me, and as long as I have them people will come and use Kara as a way of getting them from me."

"Someone attacked you didn't they?" Silver asked, "at your home."

Miles nodded, "She was after the emeralds, I'm not sure who she was but she was pretty damn good."

"I will take a look at the place where you were attacked tomorrow," Silver assured him, "my Psychopathy is not nearly as powerful as my other gifts but, I can still read vague signs from things she has touched if you still possess them."

The young Kitsune nodded, "Good, I just wish my Technopathy worked the same way…then I wouldn't need any help. Compared to you and Blaze I think I may have gotten the short end of the psychic ladder."

Silver nodded, "Well…regardless of that, you should hurry back. I am certain Kara is worried sick by now."

"Yeah," Miles replied standing up, "listen. I'll do what you said…I'll do my best to look at the brighter side of things and take advantage of the time I have with Kara while I've got it…but, you have to do something for me."

The silver hedgehog chuckled, "All you had to do was ask. What is it you'd like me to do Miles?"

Miles nodded with a sly grin, "You have to tell Blaze the truth. She deserves to know how you feel; and trust me, you'll feel better once she knows."

"I…" Silver said stopping himself as he looked the young fox in the eyes, "…I will…try."

Knowing that it was the most he could do, Miles took this as a good sign. Silver was not know for his ability to lie, especially to his friends it was actually hard for the fox to believe that Silver was his father's son most of the time. Then again Silver's father was much different then he would have liked the world to believe. Very little time went by before Miles found his way to the small shack where all of his friends were waiting for him, even so, he found that Silver had still managed to beat him there. That counted for little however, as the only person he saw as waiting for him welcomed him into a loving embrace. The vixen let out a squeal of delight as the strong young fox swung her up into his arms and suddenly took to the sky…

"Where the hell are you going?!" Knuckles called out to the young fox.

Miles laughed as he broke away from his lover's lips, "Angel Falls!" He called back, "I'll be back tomorrow!" He smiled at the vixen, "We have some things that we need to talk about."

Tails and Kara lay in the warm aftermath of their own embroiled passion; Kara was certain that neither of them would be going anywhere anytime soon, as she rested her head on her lover's chest. Tails sighed contently with his arm drawn tightly around her; he had missed these little incursions, he could hardly believe that he had spent so much time worrying himself to death that he'd forgotten how much he enjoyed being with Kara. Even though sex seemed to be a bit of an obsession of Kara's, it was one he reminded himself he was happy to have rub off on him. It seemed as though they lay there under the stars, with the falls crashing harmoniously…

"I'm sorry." He suddenly said causing the vixen to chuckle a bit into his chest.

"Sorry for what?" Kara asked, not bothering to open her eyes.

Miles sighed heavily, "For everything. To be honest with you; since we got married I was thinking about being a father myself. Hearing it come from you though, just kinda scared me," He said looking to her, "but, I recently was forced to remember something that I said when we got married."

Kara opened her eyes looking up to him, "What might that be?"

"Whatever you want, I'll find a way to make it yours," He smiled, "I just never though what you wanted would be so simple."

Kara chuckled rubbing her head against his chest fur, "Miles, even though I've always wanted a family of my own. Thanks to you I already have everything I've ever wanted. Every girl dreams of finding true love; and I'm one of the lucky ones…" She giggled tickling his abs, "…you're strong, handsome, and caring. Not to mention, you always seem to know what I want. You're every girl's dream come true. Not to mention some of your other gifts…" She smiled gently squeezing his foxhood.

Mile laughed, "Why is it I knew you'd sneak that in there?" He replied squeezing her bare breast, "but, I'm not the only gifted one here," He said, "you know, pregnancy is gonna make them swell up pretty badly."

Kara laughed, "Why do I think you could care less about that?"

Miles laughed resting his head on the soft mounds, "Well they are my second favorite part of you," He said rolling over so that he was positioned over her with his hands beside her head, "but, I could still stare at your eyes all day."

Kara reached around his neck pulling Miles down to her where their noses met, "Why bother staring?" She said kissing him deeply, "I can think of a much more fun thing to spend our time doing."

Silver sat by the ledge of the island, a far throw from Knuckles's cabin. He was happy to have been able to talk Miles out of whatever level of depression he was in, however, there was a part of his deal that he was not quite ready for. He had been harboring a love for the lavender furred Pyrokinetic for what seemed like forever; they had grown up together before her placement as the guardian of the Sol emeralds. Unfortunately, there was nothing that he could do about this love that he felt for Blaze, after all, once this was all over the Emeralds would need to return to their resting places, which mean that she would again be separated from him by both time and space. He was however, a man of his word, and would, thanks to his deal with Miles be forced to come out to Blaze. His thoughts seemed to travel all over the place; from whether or not even his own existence would matter after all of this; his father did have some prideful habits that would easily endanger his life after all, and if his father died in this time it would mean that Silver himself would never exist. It was thanks to his being lost in thought, that even his own gift of Telepathy did not pick up on the familiar thought pattern of the lovely young feline that quickly cupped her hands over his eyes from behind…

"You realize how pointless this game is Sonic?" He chuckled.

Blaze huffed as she placed her fists on her hips, "Sonic? I do not have man hands."

Silver laughed, "I am sorry Blaze," He said as she found a seat beside him, "why are you here?"

"I couldn't sleep," She replied, "something's been bothering me pretty badly lately."

Silver sighed heavily, he wasn't sure how but, he had to tell her, it seemed that even fat was pushing the issue by sending her here instead of to sleep where she should have been. With a deep breath he suddenly looked to her…

"I love you." Their voices rang in unison, finding their eyes locked.

Silver's heart was already racing but, now he could feel it beating in his throat, "You? What?"

The feline smiled as she looked to the bright orange moon, "I love you. I have for a long time now, my only problem has been the fact that I was left no other option than to be guardian of the Sol Emeralds, but, I don't want to be a guardian," She said placing her hand on his cheek, "all I want is you."

Silver found his words were stuck in his throat, finding it much easier to simply pull Blaze into his arms embracing her tightly, "You have no idea how long I have waited to hear you say that."

Pushing the silver hedgehog out to an arms length, the young feline drew him back into a heated kiss which led him onto his back. Finding himself completely lost in the moment, Silver did not even notice that his hands had found her rump, where they maintained a firm grasp even after she had broken her lips away from his…

"What do we do now?" Silver asked awkwardly, "I have never even kissed a female before."

Blaze chuckled as she brushed her hand over his cheek, "Don't worry about it.." She said kissing his nose, "…this is all new to me too."

After waking near the falls, Miles and Kara used the nearby waters to clean up as much as they found possible, before finally heading back to Knuckles's cabin. Even though he thought it was silly, he could no longer actually recall why it was he was so frightened about Kara's wanting to start a family, in fact now it was the furthest thing from his mind. He allowed the vixen with him to walk back into the cabin before he took a moment to stretch his back, it was as he did this however that something caused tails to shield his eyes, before realizing that the light that blinded him was actually colored. Following this light, the young fox noticed something that caused him to rush off toward the source where he found a familiar purple skinned chameleon, emeralds clutched in both fists. Awe stricken, Tails quickly lifted his old friend and rushed back toward the cabin and as he broke through the front door. Knuckles and Julie-su quickly leaped into their own action taking the injured reptile quickly to the sofa where they could tend to his injuries….

"What the hell happened Tails?" Knuckles half shouted.

The young fox shrugged as he helped with whatever he could, "I don't know. I found him like this he had emeralds with him."

Julie-su quickly began to study their injured friend, "These wounds are terrible…his ribs are broken, his leg is fractured, his horn has been shattered, he is bleeding horribly. How is it possible that he even managed to find his way here?"

Tails seemed to be a bit panicked before he noticed something hanging from the reptile's pocket, "Julie-su, what is that in his pocket?" He asked.

The young echidna female quickly pulled the object in question from Espio's pocket before handing it back to the fox, "It has your name on it."

Tails looked over the small white envelope for a moment before opening it, inside he found nothing more than a small disk that fit easily into the music device that he most often carried wherever he went. Alongside the small memory drive was a note very generically signed; If you fear for the lives of your friends and family then you will listen to this message alone. Of course this caused Tails to step away from the group…

After a short while of laying there, Espio's eyes finally fluttered open, however, he jolted away from Knuckle while striking his face with the back of his fist causing the echidna to step back…

"Son of a bitch…" He shouted pinching off his bleeding nose, "…why do I keep getting hit?"

Espio suddenly realized what had happened, "Mech…" He gasped in pain as Julie-su helped him back to his laying position, "…Mecha Sonic…Knuckles…" He said between his pained breaths, "…Dannaville…gone…nothing left. Mile…where…?"

Kara brushed her hand over his forehead, "Don't worry Espio…he just went into the kitchen. I'll go get him."

As Kara left the room, Espio pulled Knuckles toward him, "They aren't like the old Mechas…the old ones…they were all flawed. These ones are different, they look like you and Sonic did when you two were Robotisized. They…tore through Dannaville. I got away…two Super Emeralds."

Suddenly the front door burst open allowing a nearly hyperventilating, golden furred vixen to rush into the room, "Miles…" She huffed placing her hands on her knees as she doubled over breathing heavily, "…he's…he's gone…so is his Gear Board."

"Calm down…" Blaze helped the vixen to a seat, "Miles wouldn't just run off like that."

Kara shook her head, "…his weapons are gone too."

As they all spoke, Rouge and Shadow simply appeared in a ripple of light. Shadow dropped the gems he held, "That's all…two missing from each set."

Knuckles thought for a moment, "Are you sure?"

Rouge sighed, "Look handsome," She replied, "Shadow can transport himself anywhere and he can sense the emeralds a mile away, not to mention the fact that I can sniff a gemstone out of a coal mine. Trust me when I say that this is all of them if you include the ones you already had."

**-Old Robotropolis Ruins-**

Tails remembered Robotropolis well enough, it was a wasteland after what sonic had done to the place all those years ago. When he'd entered the city before it had all looked the same but, there was something different this time. Though his weapons were still at the ready, something told him that they'd do little to no good this time. However he did pack a surprise for the Mechas in the pack he'd learned to carry random pieces of junk in to work his technopathy with should the need arise for it. There had to be a reason the Mechas had sent for him and he was going to find out. The whole this certainly had something to do with his constant nightmares; something told him deep at the pit of his own soul that his answers lay with the Mechas, and come hell over high waters, he was going to get the answers...even it if killed him...


	8. Chapter 7

**AN: **_Hey ya folks. Sorry about all the BS but, some major crap has gone down repeatedly with my current job, on top of that things are going through a lot of changes right now. Either way, this didn't turn out as long as I'd have liked it to but, for the most part it is the second to last chapter I'll be posting for this fic. Hope you all like it. ^^ thanx again for understanding_

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**Chapter VII**

The downed structures and collapsed buildings were nothing like the one's that the young fox was used to seeing. The cities of Mobius had always been so...organic feeling. Everything about Robotropolis had always however, felt dead, void of anything but cold, harsh, unforgiving steel. Life had never been a concern of Robotnick's, it had always been about making all living things perfectly obedient...and look where it all got him. Nothing more than a severed head. Even long after passing the buildings that Tails was familiar with, something did bring him to realization of where it was he was going. A containment cell that lay in an open clearing. It was the very same pod that had saved his life from the explosion when he'd first fought with the strange fox calling himself Vyce. However, as he approached the demolished building two figures stood out against the tragic scenery.

A red echidna and blue hedgehog; not quite as oddly shaped as the old mechas who's bodies has always resembled symmetrical shapes and such. These two look much more organic, even their colors seemed nearly a perfect match, spare their metallic sheen. The blue one held it's right arm as if it were actually injured, perhaps even capable of feeling pain, while the other simply stepped off toward Miles only to meet him half way...

"Weapons... It said in a rather freakish robotic voice that nearly sounded like Knuckles.

Miles sighed before tossing Requiem to one side, he then drew both Dusk and Dawn before releasing their magazines and tossing them over to the rifle, You sent for me. Now what the hell do you two want?

Mecha Knuckles cut his eyes back toward his injured companion, Unit seven damaged. Assessed level non-critical...functionality suffering. Diagnostic results uncertain. Organic Miles Prower's profile suggests deep knowledge of mechanics.

Miles sighed before tilting his head toward a large stone, Sit down. I'll repair what I can but, then you two get lost.

The echidna's arm suddenly shifted into the glowing barrel of some strange looking cannon, Proposal non-negotiable. Chameleon's plan was flawless in playing part in empathetic organic emotional response. With Miles Prower away, other emeralds will fall into subjugate's hands. You will repair Mecha Sonic's functions to acceptable levels. You will then be spared. Subjugate will be destroyed, cannot be trusted.

Mile's face froze, Es-pio?

"Emotional response subjective, Mecha Knuckles replied, logical inquiry. I.Q registery places Miles Prower with quotient above three hundred fifty...abnormal. Why do you make such irrational decision such as to trust? Trust leads to misguidance; by calculation trust has an eighty percentile chance of failure.

Miles lowered his head, it was clear that they were incredibly intelligent, even for mechas. For the longest time there was no response, nothing he could have said would make them understand, they were simply machines without higher programming. However, as the young fox began to patch severed wires and broken gears in Mecha Sonic's arm the robotic echidna approached...

"Response?

Miles sighed heavily before cutting his eyes at the robot, You'd never understand. You're both nothing but wires and circuit boards. Trust is something that lets us know we can count on someone; if you trust someone it's only right that they trust you. It's...reassuring, He paused for a moment, Robotnick made you guys from those clones didn't he? He asked, couldn't build a perfect Mecha so he decided to start thinking of an easier solution.

The metal echidna nodded, Affirmative. Project Omega was constructed through genetic cloning of all known Freedom Fighters. After each clone reached full maturity the Robotisization process would be applied to each. The project's purpose would most likely have been to assault the Freedom Fighters with an army to match their own. Results were less than apt as the project's final stages were never followed through.

Miles chuckled as he went back to work, Saw right through you guys didn't he? Probably shut you down as soon as he realized you'd go after the emeralds.

"Speculative... Mecha Sonic responded.

"...but, affirmative. His companion added.

Miles shook his head as he stopped his work for a moment, Biomechanical. That means you have your own suggestions, your own goals. If that's the case what are you freaks planning?

Mecha Sonic suddenly turned it's head to lock it's metal eyes on Miles's. Though clearly they held none of the fire of a living person's eyes, something stirred behind them...something...sinister...

"I wonder what it is about robotisization that makes the victims psychotic.

The robots didn't seem to bother with anything else until a spark caused Miles to blink and look away from the metal hedgehog's arm...

"God...dddddddamn it.

As instantly as it took him to utter the sentence the barrel of Mecha Knuckles's cannon came to a rest on the side of his head, Elevated vocal stress pattern Indication of stalling tactic.

Miles smiled, Maybe, He replied, you must have known that there was no way I could let the two of you go through with any of this. You two were gonna kill me as soon as I was done anyhow.

"Negative, Mecha Knuckles responded, Omega would not allow.

"Omega?

As if on cue a frighteningly familiar voice caused Miles to look to his back , Hello...Miles...

The metallic fox was seemingly composed of pure silver and shone with a polished luster. The two S shaped blades that protruded from his metal posterior easily simulated the tails from his original version. Miles had always had a strange suspicion of what he'd look like were the worst to happen but, nothing like this...

"What the hell? Miles gawked, A Mecha Me?

The silver plated fox nodded, It would seem that way wouldn't it?

"Why don't you talk like these two?

The metal fox's chest panel slowly opened revealing several small gems aligned in a circular pattern. This caused Miles to gasp audibly as he covered his mouth, The missing variable, He said, I...I can't believe I didn't see this before. Robotnick was using Chaos energy to transform bodies into a robotic form. Of course that would make them all insane, He said looking to his alter ego, you're after the emeralds.

"When I merged with the first emeralds, I began to understand things differently, Mecha Tails said as his chest panel snapped shut, this world is composed of the energies of the Master Emerald; we must give that energy back. Life is just another extension of the Master Emerald. Chaos which is bred from Chaos, all leads only to more Chaos. It must now all return to Chaos.

As it said this the robotic fox held out it's hands revealing the emeralds that Miles had tucked into his pack. As he could do nothing but sit and watch, his altered ego tossed the emeralds both to Mecha Knuckles, whom placed the two within a similar cavity in his chest to the one the metal fox had where the two super emeralds rested...

"Four is a fair enough suit for the time being, Mecha Tails said, Espio should eventually return with the others.

Miles laughed, Good luck with that freak. We don't have 'em all. We're still missing two sol emeralds and if Shadow and Rouge can't find 'em...nobody can cuz they've already been found. So you've got two of the chaos emeralds and two super emeralds...still can't use them unless you're like Shadow.

There was no response, it was clear now that they weren't only planing on killing Espio, they would also finish him off as soon as he was through with his job. However, something was still in his favor, as Miles stood up Mecha Knuckles's weapon came to be fixed on the fox's head...

"Calm down bolt neck, I just need something form my pack.

Looking to the metallic fox to his left, the robot echidna lowered his weapon. For a moment Miles rustled around in his back before finally pulling something free; the device was no larger than a heated thermos but, a small panel across the front of it caused his alter ego to chuckle...

"Thermal Neutron Detonator... It said, ...approximately fifty thousand megatons. That would level this entire ruined city. You would never survive.

Miles flipped a small switch, If it keeps you away from those emeralds...then that's just something I'll have to accept. Can you? There's no way you'd survive the blast either.

The metal fox stepped forward, I believe you may be bluffing.

A twitch of Miles's hand caused the weapons timer to jump forward, I have a lot to loose but, I have a lot more to protect.

After a moment of standing by Mecha Knuckles sounded off, In depth scan reveals no accelerant or explosive compound. Assessed threat level...one. Slight concussive trauma possible if thrown.

Miles chuckled a bit, Hmm...well shit. I didn't wanna have to do this but...

Suddenly the strange little bomb disassembled around the fox's fist, forming into a strange looking barrel with a glowing interior...

"New threat assessed, Mecha Knuckles suddenly alerted, danger level ten. Extreme caution advised. High density particle beam.

Mecha Sonic made a sudden lunge at the young technopath only to have a blast from the small cannon collide with his chest. The shot did not seem to do excessive damage, however, it did manage to drag the clockwork doppleganger across the ground causing it's head to pile up dirt over it's face before it finally rolled onto it's stomach.

In the instant that it had taken for this to happen Miles discarded his strange weapon. Leaping into the air his gear board seemed to hover beneath him on it's own before he burst off barely giving notice that he'd managed to pick up his weapons as he shot by. Scoping the area over his shoulder he could see a jet of light; just in front of the light a red monstrosity of an echidna tore over the landscape. Miles's plan had been a fairly bad one but, it had been the only way he'd figured he could get one of the Mechas away from the others. Worse yet than that, he'd not been expecting to fight his own robotic other. The whole idea actually kept him from following through with his original plan...

As he tore over the area his first means of business was to loose his purisuer. It seemed like forever running, leaping over rubble, skimming over walls, doing anything to throw the mecha off his trail. He knew now what they were after and worse yet he knew that Espio was their go between. He had to make it back to the cabin, as quickly as possible.

Tearing over the landscape as though his race were against death himself, Mile's gear board seemed to simply pick up more and more speed as if it too feared the red boddied metallic echidna tearing over his own path. He'd been hoping the one that would follow him would have been Mecha Sonic, as he knew the sheer power behind the metal hedgehog's exterior, having been unfortunate enough to have been there when Sonic himself had been turned. Donning a small grin, Miles peered over his shoulder to the rocket propelled robot before, cutting his eyes to his pack. He'd been keeping it packed with things, primarily components through which he could easily work his technopathy. One particular set up was something he was not even certain would work...however, this would turn out to be the perfectly opportuned moment through which to find out just how far his training of the ability he'd once feared had taken him...

Looking over the vast plains covered in dense grass Miles grinded to a halt, "This is a good spot...nothing and nobody to get hurt."

Placing his hand into his pack, the mecha some distance away came to an imediate stop finding only Miles standing next to his gear board with what appeared to be a heavily modified rifle in his hand. It extended far down and even farther yet as he took aim at the echidna, whom simply continued to study the strange activity before a pair of legs forming a bipod allowed Miles to rest the rifle at shoulder level. It was apparent that the bot had no intentions of moving before a whirring hum from the weapon, along with a bright light that began to shine from the barrel itself caused the Mecha to scan the area...

"Technology...unknown," It said scanning the weapon, "particle accelerator...Stage ten threat."

Miles chuckled, "Close asshole!" He shouted as the lights faded, "it's a Hadron Cannon!"

The energy from the weapon gave no direct sound, there was nothing by the slight click of the trigger. However the destructively massive force of the blow that followed sent the weapon soaring through the air, Miles sliding through the dirt, and his ears ringing. The young kitsune continued to hide his face in the dirt with his hands over his ears, whatever rocking forced he'd unleashed there was nothing; living or otherwise that could survive the impact. Though it fet like an hour later, moments passed and Miles finally looked onto the catastrophic impact he'd unleashed. There were no signs of Mecha Knuckles short of two glowing gems laying in the depth of a massive impression twenty feet across by at least eight feet deep at the center. The massive dome shaped crator caused Miles to look to the weapon and back to the hole again...it had erased the mecha from existance completely and utterly, leaving nothing but the chaos emeralds it had held in the wake smoldering on the now scarred earth…

Mils's silver double bore a blank expression as he and Mecha Sonic watched in the far off direction of the explosion they had recently scanned…

"It would seem we may need to speed things up," He said looking to Mecha Sonic, "let us go we may need the other emeralds after all. I was not expecting him to have gathered such control of his abilities in such short time."

"System analysis stabilized," Mecha Sonic droned, "complete functionality ninety-seven percent and rising."

Mecha Tails smiled, "Good…I am certain that your counterpart is very anxious to see you," He seemed to smile, "just as well…Miles has a very tangible weakness now."


End file.
